A Short Pulse Laser-Assisted Pulsed Plasma Thruster

Abstract

An objective of this study was to observe the plasma acceleration process and to estimate the thrust performance. To observe the plasma behavior and the plasma acceleration process, an observation of plasma plume between the rectangular electrodes of the short-pulse laserassisted pulsed plasma thruster with an ICCD camera was conducted. From the results of time-resolved images with the ICCD camera, the strong emission regions can be seen near the electrodes and the propellant surface. Furthermore, it was confirmed that no strong correlations between discharge current and plasma emissions can be extracted. Moreover, to estimate the thrust performance of the short-pulse laser assisted pulsed plasma thruster, impulse bit measurement and mass shot measurement were also conducted. From the results, impulse bits increased with charge energy. On the other hand, mass shots slightly increased with charge energy. Maximum impulse bits and mass shots for charge energy of 1.2 J were 8 μNs and 1 μg/pulse, respectively.