TY - GEN
T1 - Experimental assessment of a benchmark ablation-fed pulsed plasma thruster
AU - Henrikson, Erik M.
AU - Mikellides, Pavlos
PY - 2007
Y1 - 2007
N2 - A new high vacuum facility has been assembled at Arizona State University's Advanced Space Propulsion and Plasma Physics Lab (ASP3L) for testing of ablation-fed pulsed plasma thrusters (APPT). The facility includes a cryo-pumped, 1m by 1.5m horizontal cylindrical chamber, and the equipment necessary to fire APPT's, measure mass loss, and acquire current waveform data. A benchmark, breech-fed APPT has been designed, built and operated at 40, 60, and 80 Joules utilizing polytetrafluoroethelene (PTFE) propellant, commonly known as Teflon®. The thruster's mass loss and current waveform data is compared to data obtained by a similar design operated at another laboratory in order to provide validation of the facility's capability. A zero-dimensional, idealized model is applied to the benchmark design and two other APPTs of similar geometry and operating in comparable energy ranges. This model has captured general trends and magnitudes of total mass ablated and total impulse bit for these APPT configurations.
AB - A new high vacuum facility has been assembled at Arizona State University's Advanced Space Propulsion and Plasma Physics Lab (ASP3L) for testing of ablation-fed pulsed plasma thrusters (APPT). The facility includes a cryo-pumped, 1m by 1.5m horizontal cylindrical chamber, and the equipment necessary to fire APPT's, measure mass loss, and acquire current waveform data. A benchmark, breech-fed APPT has been designed, built and operated at 40, 60, and 80 Joules utilizing polytetrafluoroethelene (PTFE) propellant, commonly known as Teflon®. The thruster's mass loss and current waveform data is compared to data obtained by a similar design operated at another laboratory in order to provide validation of the facility's capability. A zero-dimensional, idealized model is applied to the benchmark design and two other APPTs of similar geometry and operating in comparable energy ranges. This model has captured general trends and magnitudes of total mass ablated and total impulse bit for these APPT configurations.
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:36749022862
SN - 1563479036
SN - 9781563479038
T3 - Collection of Technical Papers - 43rd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference
SP - 2164
EP - 2173
BT - Collection of Technical Papers - 43rd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference
T2 - 43rd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference
Y2 - 8 July 2007 through 11 July 2007
ER -