Experimental and numerical validation of magnetized plasma plume simulations

Electric propulsion is a mature and widely used technology in modern spacecraft applications. This kind of propulsion has strongly demonstrated its main advantages both analytically and in-flight experimentally, since their specific impulse is generally larger than chemical propulsion devices. Recent advances in plasma-based propulsion systems have led to the development of electromagnetic Radio-Frequency (RF) plasma generation and acceleration systems through the use of magnetic nozzles that interact with charged plasma particles and accelerate them by converting their thermal energy into kinetic energy useful to produce the required thrust. One of the pioneer company developing this new type of space propulsion is T4i Technology for Propulsion and Innovation s.p.a., with its cutting-edge project called E-REGULUS, among with this study has been performed. This study is focused on the numerically simulation of the plasma dynamics in the acceleration stage, using Xenon gas. We resort on a 3D full particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation strategy to simulate the plume in the magnetic nozzle. The study has been performed with the open-source software Pro-PIC. The goal of the following thesis work is the validation of the code by comparison with Starfish and experimental data. Several parameters and their influence have been studied to verify the robustness of the code.