Design of an intake and a thruster for an atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion system
Challenging space missions include those at very low altitudes, where the atmosphere is the source of aerodynamic drag on the spacecraft, that fnally defnes the mission’s lifetime, unless a way to compensate for it is provided. This environment is named Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) and it is defned f...
| Autores: | , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2022 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) |
| Repositorio: | UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/372215 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/2117/372215 https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12567-022-00452-1 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Space vehicles -- Propulsion systems ABEP Intake VLEO Birdcage Helicon Vehicles espacials -- Sistemes de propulsió Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Aeronàutica i espai::Sistemes de propulsió |
| Sumario: | Challenging space missions include those at very low altitudes, where the atmosphere is the source of aerodynamic drag on the spacecraft, that fnally defnes the mission’s lifetime, unless a way to compensate for it is provided. This environment is named Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) and it is defned for h < 450km. In addition to the spacecraft’s aerodynamic design, to extend the lifetime of such missions, an efcient propulsion system is required. One solution is Atmosphere-Breathing Electric Propulsion (ABEP), in which the propulsion system collects the atmospheric particles to be used as propellant for an electric thruster. The system could remove the requirement of carrying propellant on-board, and could also be applied to any planetary body with atmosphere, enabling new missions at low altitude ranges for longer missions’ duration. One of the objectives of the H2020 DISCOVERER project, is the development of an intake and an electrode-less plasma thruster for an ABEP system. This article describes the characteristics of intake design and the respective fnal designs based on simulations, providing collection efciencies up to 94%. Furthermore, the radio frequency (RF) Helicon-based plasma thruster (IPT) is hereby presented as well, while its performances are being evaluated, the IPT has been operated with single atmospheric species as propellant, and has highlighted very low input power requirement for operation at comparable mass fow rates P ~ 60w. |
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