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.

Long duration test of a 30-kW class thermal arcjet engine

Abstract: The paper describes a recent long-duration test of a 30-kW arcjet engine. This engine performed very well for 573 hours at power levels between 24 and 29 kW and with ammonia as the propellant at a mass flow rate between 0.25 and 0.27 g/s. The specific impulse varied between about 850 and 950 s and the thrust efficiency between 36 and 40 percent. The cause of final engine failure and the conditions of the electrodes and insulator are discussed in detail. An important part of this very long-term test effort was the performance and efficiency of the facility. The construction of this facility and the performance of the various critical components are discussed.

Low-power arcjet test facility impacts

Abstract: Performance characterization of a flight-type 1.4 kW arcjet system were conducted at the Rocket Research Company (RRC) in Redmond, WA, and at the NASA LeRC in Cleveland, OH. The objectives of these tests were as follows: to compare low-power arcjet performance at two different test facilities; to compare arcjet performance obtained with a 2:1 mixture of gaseous hydrogen and nitrogen and hydrazine; and to quantify the effects of test cell pressure on thruster operating characteristics. Performance and thruster temperature distributions were measured at thruster input power levels and propellant mass flow rates ranging from 1274 to 1370 W and from 3.2 x 10(exp -5) to 5.1 x 10(exp -5) kg/s, respectively. Specific impulses measured at the two facilities, at comparable test cell pressures, using gaseous hydrogen-nitrogen propellant mixtures agreed to within 1 percent over the range of operating conditions tested. The specific impulses measured using hydrazine propellant were higher than that for the cold hydrogen-nitrogen mixtures. Agreement between by hydrazine and gas mixture data was good, however, when the differences in propellant enthalpies at the thruster inlet were considered. Specific impulse showed a strong dependence on test facility pressure, and was 3 to 4 percent higher below 0.1 Pa than for test cell pressures above 5 Pa.

1 kW Ammonia Arcjet System Development for a Science Mission to the Moon

Abstract: This paper presents first steps for the development of a thermal arcjet system for a science mission to the moon. A first approach for a propulsion feed system as well as results accomplished during tests with a laboratory model of the thermal arcjet ARTUR- 2 are introduced. The tests were done at different power levels from 0.9 up to 1.SkW at mass flows between 10 and 15 mg/s hydrogen. The cathode gap was kept constant at 0.8 mm during all tests. The constrictor diameter is 0.6 mm. The highest effective exceeded exhaust velocity was 8 km/s at a thrust efficiency of 32%.