2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Development of a space debris removal technology by a bi-directional plasma acceleration
| Project/Area Number |
18K18746
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Review Section |
Medium-sized Section 14:Plasma science and related fields
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| Research Institution | Tohoku University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
安藤 晃 東北大学, 工学研究科, 教授 (90182998)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-06-29 – 2021-03-31
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| Keywords | スペースデブリ / プラズマ / 電気推進 |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
The present study demonstrates that the bi-directional plasma exhaust and acceleration can occur in an electrodeless, magnetic nozzle, rf plasma thruster; the plasma flux exhausted from the thruster to the upstream and downstream sides can be controlled by the magnetic field configuration. The thrust and the force exerted to the target plate simulating the space debris are simultaneously measured. The results demonstrate that the acceleration and deceleration modes of the spacecraft and the space debris removal modes can be switched by the magnetic field configuration. Furthermore, an automatically- and fast-controlled frequency tunable rf system is developed for future development of the propulsion module, where the rf frequency and the output power are controlled so as to minimize the reflection coefficient and to maintain the net rf power. This fast and compact system can produce the high density plasma with good reproducibility,
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| Free Research Field |
プラズマ理工学
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| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
スペースデブリ除去技術の開発は，今後宇宙開発を継続していく中で最重要課題であり，国際的にもその開発が進められている．特に既に地球周回軌道に存在する大型デブリの除去技術に関して早急な開発が求められており，除去衛星がデブリに直接接触しない，非接触型の除去技術が有用であると考えられている．本研究で得られたプラズマ理工学的および宇宙工学的知見はこの課題の解決法の一つとなりうる成果であり，学術的・社会的に意義が大きい．
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