Abstract
Development of electrodeless radiofrequency plasma thrusters, e.g., a helicon thruster, has been one the of challenging topics for future high-power and long-lived electric propulsion systems. The concept simply has a radiofrequency plasma production/heating source and a magnetic nozzle, while it seems to include many aspects of physics and engineering issues. The plasma produced inside the source is transported along the magnetic field lines and expands in the magnetic nozzle, where the plasma is spontaneously accelerated into the axial direction along the magnetic nozzle, yielding a generation of the thrust force. Hence, the plasma transport and spontaneous acceleration phenomena in the magnetic nozzle are key issues to improve the performance of the thrusters. Since the thrust is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to momentum flux exhausted from the system, the direct measurement of the thrust can reveal not only the thruster performance but also fundamental physical quantity of plasma momentum flux. Here studies on fundamental physics relating to the thruster development and the technology for the compact and efficient system are reviewed; the current status of the thruster performance is shown. Finally, a recently proposed future new application of the thruster is also discussed.
Highlights
Over the past few decades various types of electric propulsion devices have been developed and successfully utilized in space missions, e.g., ion-gridded thrusters in DEEP-SPACE 1 (Brophy 2002) and HAYABUSA/MUSES-C missions (Kuninaka et al 2006), a Hall thruster in SMART 1 (Koppel et al 2005) mission, and so on.1 3 Vol.:(0123456789)Reviews of Modern Plasma Physics (2019) 3:3Representative important parameters showing the propulsion performance are a thrust F, a specific impulse Isp, and a thruster efficiency, where the latter two can be given as Isp = mḞ g, (1) F2 η=, 2ṁ P (2)with the mass flow rate ṁ of the propellant gas, the gravitational acceleration g, and the electric power P
Since the ionized propellant is accelerated via hydrodynamic, electrostatic, and electromagnetic acceleration processes induced by an electric power obtained in space, the electric power can be converted into the material momentum in the electric propulsion devices, yielding higher specific impulse and reducing the propellant mass mounted on the system
As seen in Eqs. (1) and (2), the specific impulse Isp and the thruster efficiency can be assessed by measuring the thrust force F with the given mass flow rate ṁ of the propellant and the electric power P
Summary
Over the past few decades various types of electric propulsion devices have been developed and successfully utilized in space missions, e.g., ion-gridded thrusters in DEEP-SPACE 1 (Brophy 2002) and HAYABUSA/MUSES-C missions (Kuninaka et al 2006), a Hall thruster in SMART 1 (Koppel et al 2005) mission, and so on
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