Intake design for an Atmosphere-Breathing Electric Propulsion System (ABEP)

Fifty years ago, on October 1, 1966, the first Yantar satellite laboratory with a gas plasma–ion electric propulsion was launched into orbit as part of the Yantar Soviet space program. In 1966–1971, the program launched a total of four laboratories with thrusters operating on argon, nitrogen, and air with jet velocities of 40, 120, and 140 km/s, respectively. These space experiments were the first to demonstrate the long-term stable operation of these thrusters, which exceed chemical rocket engines in specific impulse by an order of magnitude and provide effective jet charge compensation, under the conditions of a real flight at altitudes of 100–400 km. In this article, we have analyzed the potential modern applications of the scientific results obtained by the Yantar space program for the development of air-breathing electric propulsion that ensure the longterm operation of spacecraft in very low orbits.

Integrated Studies of Electric Propulsion Engines during Flights in the Earth’s Ionosphere

Air-breathing electric propulsion has the potential to enable space missions at very low altitudes. This study introduces to a 0D hybrid formulation for describing the coupled intake and thruster physics of an air-breathing electric propulsion prototype. Model derivation is then used to formally derive main system’s key performance indicators and estimate the figure of merit for the design of rarefied flow air intakes. Achievable performance by conical intake shapes are defined and evaluated by Monte Carlo simulations. Influence of inlet flow variation is assessed by dedicated sensitivity analyses. The set of requirements and optimality conditions derived for the downstream plasma thruster suggest concept feasibility within an achievable performance range.

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Rarefied Flow Simulation of Conical Intake and Plasma Thruster for Very Low Earth Orbit Spaceflight

Integrated optimization of trajectories and layout parameters of spacecraft with air-breathing electric propulsion

Design and numerical investigation on the intake of atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion

Experimental studies of the air intake in a free-molecular gas flow

https://dl.begellhouse.com/download/article/604bc930510ff751/137-148-new.pdf

Alexander Ivanovich Erofeev

Papers

Experimental studies of the air intake in a free-molecular gas flow

Air intake in the transient regime of rarefied gas flow

Gas extraction from air intake in the transient regime of rarefied gas flow

The influence of surface roughness on scattering of free-molecular flow by solid bodies

Angular distribution of free molecular gas flow reflected from a solid body surface