26th Australian Institute of Physics Congress and the Australian and New Zealand Conference on Optics and Photonics

A novel pulsed plasma ablative thruster for space applications

Not scheduled

20m

Belinda Hutchinson Building (The University of Sydney )

Contributed Oral AIP | Solar Terrestrial and Space Physics (STSP)

Speaker

Mr Julian Whichello (School of Biomedical Enginering, University of Syney)

Description

Over the past decade, the global space sector has experienced a surge in small satellite deployments, with several thousand entering orbit annually. Propulsion modules are used for attitude control, station keeping and both orbital and de-orbiting manoeuvres, all of which affect the range, capability and lifetime of a mission.
In this paper we report on the development and testing of pulsed plasma thrusters, with novel geometries for space applications. These thrusters only utilize the cathode material as the propellant, unlike most other current generation of micro-thrusters which use either gas fed systems or, pressurised liquid propellants. Our proposed design allows for scaling, enabling both station-keeping and the rapid transport of payloads between planetary orbits. It is envisaged that the overall concept may make it possible to use metallic space debris as fuel for these types of thrusters in the future.
The project has measured the electrical characteristics and physical performance of two different thruster designs. In addition to the experimental work, we are developing dynamic computer models of the thrusters to aid in further design development and optimisation.
The velocity of the propellant ejected from the thruster was measured using a pair of Langmuir probes. The mass of the deposited material was estimated using both the optical transmittance of the deposition patterns on a silicon substrate of the plasma ejected from the thruster and profilometry measurements of the thickness of the deposited film.
A compact precision pendulum has been developed to measure the impulse per pulse of the ejected material. The evolution of the plasma within the thruster and the expansion of the plasma plume as it exits the thruster have been studied electrically and by high-speed photography. Estimates of the efficiency of our thrusters suggest they have significant potential for applications requiring orbital manoeuvring and transport between planetary orbits.