Hollow cathode thrusters for all-electric spacecraft
Hollow cathode thrusters for all-electric spacecraft
This paper characterizes thrust performance of a variant of the T6 hollow cathode modified for improved operational characteristics. The device displays promising performance and highlights the potential for application as a microthruster. The T6 cathode is able to produce specific impulse of over 1050s with xenon and argon; however the dominant acceleration mechanism at low flow rates is shown to be almost entirely electromagnetic effectively constituting a low power, magneto-plasma-dynamic thruster. The modified cathode also displayed very low discharge voltages ~12V and stable operation while carrying currents as high as 30-Amps on flow rates of less than 0.1mgs-1 down to 0.04mgs-1 with xenon. This investigation also highlights the importance of electrode geometry in hollow cathode thruster design and indeed in all other applications of hollow cathode where flow rates should be minimized
hollow cathode, micro thruster, electric propulsion, plasma, ion
Grubisic, Angelo
94e5f6ea-9b65-4c81-bfa1-f0e29e8bbaf4
Gabriel, Stephen
ac76976d-74fd-40a0-808d-c9f68a38f259
24 September 2007
Grubisic, Angelo
94e5f6ea-9b65-4c81-bfa1-f0e29e8bbaf4
Gabriel, Stephen
ac76976d-74fd-40a0-808d-c9f68a38f259
Grubisic, Angelo and Gabriel, Stephen
(2007)
Hollow cathode thrusters for all-electric spacecraft.
58th International Astronautical Federation Congress, , Hyderabad, India.
24 - 28 Sep 2007.
15 pp
.
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
This paper characterizes thrust performance of a variant of the T6 hollow cathode modified for improved operational characteristics. The device displays promising performance and highlights the potential for application as a microthruster. The T6 cathode is able to produce specific impulse of over 1050s with xenon and argon; however the dominant acceleration mechanism at low flow rates is shown to be almost entirely electromagnetic effectively constituting a low power, magneto-plasma-dynamic thruster. The modified cathode also displayed very low discharge voltages ~12V and stable operation while carrying currents as high as 30-Amps on flow rates of less than 0.1mgs-1 down to 0.04mgs-1 with xenon. This investigation also highlights the importance of electrode geometry in hollow cathode thruster design and indeed in all other applications of hollow cathode where flow rates should be minimized
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Hollow Cathode Thrusters for All-Electric Spacecraft.pdf
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e-pub ahead of print date: 2007
Published date: 24 September 2007
Venue - Dates:
58th International Astronautical Federation Congress, , Hyderabad, India, 2007-09-24 - 2007-09-28
Keywords:
hollow cathode, micro thruster, electric propulsion, plasma, ion
Organisations:
Astronautics Group
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 72463
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/72463
PURE UUID: 0dd0a9e6-030d-4dc2-a104-d66c189784fd
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Date deposited: 15 Feb 2010
Last modified: 13 Mar 2024 21:31
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Contributors
Author:
Angelo Grubisic
Author:
Stephen Gabriel
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