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Article Dans Une Revue Physics of Plasmas Année : 2015

Optimization of a coaxial electron cyclotron resonance plasma thruster with an analytical model

Résumé

A new cathodeless plasma thruster currently under development at Onera is presented and characterized experimentally and analytically. The coaxial thruster consists of a microwave antenna immersed in a magnetic field, which allows electron heating via cyclotron resonance. The magnetic field diverges at the thruster exit and forms a nozzle that accelerates the quasi-neutral plasma to generate a thrust. Different thruster configurations are tested, and in particular, the influence of the source diameter on the thruster performance is investigated. At microwave powers of about 30W and a xenon flow rate of 0.1mg/s (1 SCCM), a mass utilization of 60% and a thrust of 1mN are estimated based on angular electrostatic probe measurements performed downstream of the thruster in the exhaust plume. Results are found to be in fair agreement with a recent analytical helicon thruster model that has been adapted for the coaxial geometry used here.

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Dates et versions

hal-01229071 , version 1 (16-11-2015)

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F. Cannat, T. Lafleur, J. Jarrige, P Chabert, P.Q. Elias, et al.. Optimization of a coaxial electron cyclotron resonance plasma thruster with an analytical model. Physics of Plasmas, 2015, 22 (5), p. 053503 (12 p.). ⟨10.1063/1.4920966⟩. ⟨hal-01229071⟩
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