XMET: A Xenon Electrothermal Thruster using additive manufacturing
XMET: A Xenon Electrothermal Thruster using additive manufacturing
This work presents XMET, a Xenon Microwave Electro-thermal Thruster. XMET uses a free-floating plasma discharge in a cylindrical resonant cavity operating at 2.45 GHz. It will be used as the RCS thruster for an integrated propulsion architecture for small GEO platforms, sharing common propellant and power systems with a gridded ion engine. We discuss the theoretical background of METs, previous work in the field and describe resonant cavity modelling and optimisation done for XMET. The XMET prototype design is explained, including the use of exchangeable nozzle insets produced in additive manufacturing. XMET is currently undergoing testing, including direct thrust measurements.
electrothermal thrusters, electric propulsion, microwave, xenon, all-electric
Staab, Daniel
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Frey, Anja
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Garbayo, Alberto
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Shadbolt, Luke
168b9284-b872-4a5e-bde8-6df5260d1cac
Grubisic, Angelo
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Hoffman, David
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Romei, Federico
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Faircloth, Dan
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Lawrie, Scott
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May 2018
Staab, Daniel
73052284-5ac7-4200-a96c-fde6e217472a
Frey, Anja
2d2836b4-25e3-491a-9dd1-a1a913b53df5
Garbayo, Alberto
4619c16b-da25-406d-a68e-5cf70257279e
Shadbolt, Luke
168b9284-b872-4a5e-bde8-6df5260d1cac
Grubisic, Angelo
a4cab763-bbc0-4130-af65-229ae674e8c8
Hoffman, David
0787950d-ca39-4566-a3b2-41aba87d70a2
Romei, Federico
2c01d8c3-430b-49f8-9c8c-e30d0d135f89
Faircloth, Dan
0130e160-760f-4f80-95c8-9edc83c3dd1e
Lawrie, Scott
77e99395-4182-485b-80db-61cb1bda8cd0
Staab, Daniel, Frey, Anja, Garbayo, Alberto, Shadbolt, Luke, Grubisic, Angelo, Hoffman, David, Romei, Federico, Faircloth, Dan and Lawrie, Scott
(2018)
XMET: A Xenon Electrothermal Thruster using additive manufacturing.
Space Propulsion 2018, Barcelo Renacimiento Hotel, Convention Center, Avenida Alvaro Alonso Barba, Isla de la Cartuja, 41092 Seville, Spain, Seville, Spain.
14 - 18 May 2018.
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
This work presents XMET, a Xenon Microwave Electro-thermal Thruster. XMET uses a free-floating plasma discharge in a cylindrical resonant cavity operating at 2.45 GHz. It will be used as the RCS thruster for an integrated propulsion architecture for small GEO platforms, sharing common propellant and power systems with a gridded ion engine. We discuss the theoretical background of METs, previous work in the field and describe resonant cavity modelling and optimisation done for XMET. The XMET prototype design is explained, including the use of exchangeable nozzle insets produced in additive manufacturing. XMET is currently undergoing testing, including direct thrust measurements.
Text
3AF_spacePropulsionConferencePaper_XMET_issue01
- Author's Original
More information
e-pub ahead of print date: 23 April 2018
Published date: May 2018
Venue - Dates:
Space Propulsion 2018, Barcelo Renacimiento Hotel, Convention Center, Avenida Alvaro Alonso Barba, Isla de la Cartuja, 41092 Seville, Spain, Seville, Spain, 2018-05-14 - 2018-05-18
Keywords:
electrothermal thrusters, electric propulsion, microwave, xenon, all-electric
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 420213
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/420213
PURE UUID: 4d81fddc-981e-4d6b-a104-052d18e90aae
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Date deposited: 02 May 2018 16:30
Last modified: 24 Apr 2024 04:04
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Contributors
Author:
Daniel Staab
Author:
Anja Frey
Author:
Alberto Garbayo
Author:
Luke Shadbolt
Author:
David Hoffman
Author:
Dan Faircloth
Author:
Scott Lawrie
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