Improving the performance of electrodeless plasma thrusters for space propulsion

A Tohoku College researcher has elevated the efficiency of a high-power electrodeless plasma thruster, transferring us one step nearer to deeper explorations into space.

Improvements in terrestrial transportation applied sciences, equivalent to vehicles, trains, and plane, have pushed historic applied sciences and industries to date; now, the same breakthrough is happening in space due to electrical propulsion expertise.

Electrical propulsion is a method using electromagnetic fields to speed up a propellant and to generate thrust that propels a spacecraft. House businesses have pioneered electrical propulsion expertise as the way forward for space exploration.

Already, a number of space missions have efficiently been accomplished utilizing electrical propulsion gadgets, equivalent to gridded ion thrusters and Corridor thrusters. Solar energy is transformed into thrust vitality when the propellant turns into ionized, i.e., a plasma, and will get accelerated by electromagnetic fields. But, the electrodes needed for these gadgets restrict their lifetime, since they get uncovered to and broken by the plasma, particularly at a high-power degree.

To bypass this, scientists have turned to electrodeless plasma thrusters. One such expertise harnesses radio frequency (rf) to generate plasma. An antenna emits radio waves right into a cylindrical chamber to create plasma, the place a magnetic nozzle channels and accelerates the plasma to generate thrust. MN rf plasma thrusters, or helicon thrusters as they’re typically identified, provide simplicity, operational flexibility, and a probably excessive thrust-to-power ratio.

However the growth of MN rf plasma thrusters has been stymied by the conversion effectivity of the rf energy to thrust vitality. Early experiments generated single digit conversion charges, however newer research have reached a modest consequence of 20%.

In a current examine revealed in Scientific Experiences, Professor Kazunori Takahashi, from Tohoku College’s Division of Electrical Engineering, has achieved a 30% conversion effectivity.

Whereas mature electric propulsion gadgets typically use xenon fuel, which is dear and tough to provide in ample portions, the present 30% effectivity was obtained with argon propellant. This means {that a} MN rf plasma thruster would scale back the fee and the useful resource load from the Earth.

“Making use of a cusp-type magnetic discipline inhibited the vitality loss that usually happens to the plasma supply wall,” Takahashi stated. “The breakthrough opens the door to advances in high-power space transportation expertise.”