Thrust Measurement of Magnetoplasma Sail in Laboratory Experiment

Abstract

Magnetoplasma Sail (MPS) is one of the next generation in-space propulsion systems that utilize the interaction between the solar wind and the magnetosphere by way of an artificial magnetic field. In order to evaluate the thrust characteristics of MPS with plasma injection, the thrust measurement of a scale-model MPS (10-100 N class) was conducted in the laboratory using a pendulum-type thrust stand. The thrust was observed to increase by plasma injection, from 0.09 N to 0.17 N. The ratio between the thrust with plasma injection and the thrust without plasma injection was 1.9 (maximum thrust gain). The thrust of MPS was observed to increase with increasing the β value at the plasma injection point, and to our knowledge, this study is the first to experimentally achieve this result.