Computer-aided evaluation of air-intake systems on air breathing ion engine and its experimental verifications

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14252
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Aerospace engineering
• Research Institution: Kobe University
• Principal Investigator: TAGAWA Masahito 神戸大学, 工学研究科, 准教授 (10216806)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 横田 久美子 神戸大学, 工学研究科, 助手 (20252794)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): NISHIYAMA Kazutaka 宇宙航空研究開発機構, 宇宙科学研究所, 准教授 (60342622) ; USUI Hideyuki 神戸大学, 大学院システム情報学研究科, 教授 (10243081) ; MIYAKE Yohei 神戸大学, 大学院システム情報学研究科, 准教授 (50547396) ; TERAOKA Yuden 日本原子力研究開発機構, 表面反応ダイナミクスグループ, グループリーダー (10343922)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 電気推進 / 超低軌道宇宙環境 / 原子状酸素 / 大気吸入イオンエンジン

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this project is to establish the design guideline of the air intake system for air breathing ion engine (ABIE) both by numerical simulations and experiments. The results of DSMC simulations show that the density of the reflected molecules are concentrated near the center axis of the ABIE. Plasma simulation performed by computational code (EMSES) indicated that the production of the ions in the ABIE increased 5 times by tuning the ABIE design. The experiments using 25% scale ABIE model was carried out. The pressure in the ABIE was measured by the fast ionization gauge. An evaluation method of air intake of ABIE in the orbit (continuous atomic oxygen flow) was successfully established based on the ground-based experiment using beam pulses formed in the laser-detonation beam source.

Free Research Field

宇宙環境工学