Demonstration of thrust performance of helicon plasma electrostatic thruster

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14250
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Aerospace engineering
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: SASOH Akihiro 名古屋大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (40215752)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 電気推進 / ヘリコンプラズマ / 静電加速

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aimed in investigating the ion beam energy characteristics and ion beam current characteristics to optimize operation condition in helicon electrostatic thruster (HEST), which was an originally-developed, high-power, large-payload space propulsion thruster. With a low propellant flow rate, a ring anode whose inner diameter equaled that of the helicon plasma source exit yielded the best performance. In this case, the inner surface of the anode acted a primary role in the electrostatic acceleration. When the anode inner diameter bacome larger, the contribution of its side surface became larger; the electrostatic acceleration performance was much degraded when the side surface was covered with an insulator.

Free Research Field

航空宇宙工学