Optimization of a Cathode-less plasma thruster
Gennaro Della Volpe
Optimization of a Cathode-less plasma thruster.
Rel. Lorenzo Casalino, Mirko Magarotto. Politecnico di Torino, Corso di laurea magistrale in Ingegneria Aerospaziale, 2021
Abstract
The thesis objective is the numerically evaluation of the propulsive performance of a Cathode-Less Plasma Thruster as the type of antenna and its position changes along the motor axis, which are used to ionize the accelerated plasma represented by a neutral gas. Three different types of antenna geometry have been considered and each one has been moved from the backward position to the forward one respect to discharge chamber itself, with the aim of exploring and distinguishing which approach is the most propulsively effective for different applications, such as compensation of orbital decay and attitude control. Thanks to the collaboration with Technologies for Propulsion and Innovation S.p.A.
(T4i) and the University of Padova, which have developed and validated indipendently a numerical model able to compute the mutual interactions of the electric field between radiative element and plasma source, it's been possible to obtain the initial conditions from which to determine the fluid-dynamic evolution of the characteristic magnetic parameters over the time.
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