Arcjet rocket

About: Arcjet rocket is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1121 publications have been published within this topic receiving 9687 citations. The topic is also known as: Arcjet.

Effect of Propellant Temperature on Efficiency in the Pulsed Plasma Thruster

Abstract: : A pulsed plasma thruster (PPT) benefits from the inherent engineering simplicity-and reduced tankage fraction gained by storing the propellant as a solid. The solid is converted to the gaseous state and accelerated by an electric discharge across the propellant face. Previous research has concluded that as little as 10% of the consumed propellant is converted to plasma and efficiently accelerated. The remaining propellant is consumed in the form of late-time vaporization and particulate emission, creating minimal thrust. Critical to improving the PPT performance is improving the propellant utilization. The present work demonstrates one possible method of increasing the PPT propellant efficiency. By measuring the PPT thrust, propellant consumption, and propellant temperature while varying the power level, duration of the experimental run, and total propellant mass, a correlation is established between decreased propropellant temperature and increased propellant efficiency. The method is demonstrated by performance measurements at 60 W and S W, which show a 25% increase in thrust efficiency, while the propellant temperature decreases from 135 to 42 deg C. Larger increases in the efficiency may be realized on-orbit where operating temperatures are commonly subzero. The dependence of propellant consumption on temperature also creates systematic errors in laboratory measurements with short experimental runs, and orbit analyses where the PPT performance measured at one power level is linearly scaled to the power available on the spacecraft.

Measurement and analysis of nitric oxide radiation in an arc-jet flow

Abstract: On the bases of the centerline enthalpy value deduced from heat transfer measurements and the NOZNT code, it is possible to predict the freestream conditions in an arcjet wind tunnel flow. The translational-rotational and vibrational temperature of NO is nearly reproducible by NOZNT. Relative to the electron and electronic temperatures, the vibrational temperature of N2 and NO are significantly lower at enthalpies of less than 45 MJ/kg. The enthalpy deduced from spectroscopic measurements is in rough agreement with that deduced from heat transfer measurements.

Propellant charge for rocket motors

Abstract: This invention relates to jet propulsion and has for its object to improve the burning properties of solid propellant charges. A related object is to provide an improved means for supporting propellant grains within the combustion chamber of a rocket motor in such a manner that they may be...

Laboratory Experiment of Plasma Flow Around Magnetic Sail

Abstract: To propel a spacecraft in the direction leaving the Sun, a magnetic sail (MagSail) blocks the hypersonic solar wind plasma flow by an artificial magnetic field. In order to simulate the interaction between the solar wind and the artificially deployed magnetic field produced around a magnetic sail spacecraft, a laboratory simulator was designed and constructed inside a space chamber. As a solar wind simulator, a high-power magnetoplasmadynamic arcjet is operated in a quasisteady mode of 0.8 ms duration. It can generate a simulated solar wind that is a high-speed (above 20 km/s), high-density (1018 m−3) hydrogen plasma plume of ∼0.7 m in diameter. A small coil (2 cm in diameter), which is to simulate a magnetic sail spacecraft and can obtain 1.9-T magnetic field strength at its center, was immersed inside the simulated solar wind. Using these devices, the formation of a magnetic cavity (∼8 cm in radius) was observed around the coil, which indicates successful simulation of the plasma flow of a MagSail in the laboratory.

Electric thruster performance for orbit raising and maneuvering

Abstract: Several electric thrusters are compared to chemical rockets for orbit raising and in-orbit maneuvering applications. For power-intensive payloads and satellites, electric propulsion can show substantial performance advantages over chemical propulsion. The arcjet is promising for near-future applications because of its low power requirements. The electrostatic thruster offers additional performance advantages over the arcjet, but with added power requirements. The performance of the electrostatic thruster can be enhanced considerably if the power processsing requirements can be reached. A performance gap exists between the specific impulse of an arcjet (-1000 s) and the minimum practical specific impulse of an electrostatic thruster (-2000 s). A highperformance thruster (thruster efficiency > 0.5) in this specific impulse range, with minimal power processing requirements, offers time-payload compromises intermediate of those possible with either the arcjet or the electrostatic thruster.