Thrust Evaluation of Magneto Plasma Sail by Using Three-Dimensional Hybrid PIC Code.

Abstract

Magneto Plasma Sail (MPS) is a propulsion system used in space, which generates its force by the interaction between solar wind and an inflated magnetic field via a plasma injection. The quantitative evaluation of the thrust increment generated by injecting a plasma jet with a βin less than unity was conducted by three-dimensional hybrid particle-incell (PIC) simulations in an ion inertia scale. The injected plasma beta βin is 0.02 and the ratio of Larmor radius of injected ion to the representative length of the magnetic field is 0.5 at the injection point. In this situation, the obtained thrust of the MPS is 1.6 mN compared with the 0.2 mN of the thrust obtained by the pure magnetic sail since the induced current region on magnetosphere expanded by the magnetic inflation. The magnetic inflation was achieved by the loop-like current induced by the isotropic injection of plasma with grad B drift motion having the same direction as the original coil current.