Liquid-Fed Pulsed Plasma Thruster for Propelling Nanosatellites

Abstract

This paper presents a novel micropropulsion system for nanosatellite applications - a liquid fed pulsed-plasma thruster (LF-PPT) comprised of a Lorentz-force pulsed plasma accelerator (PPA) and a low-energy surface flashover (LESF) igniter. A 3 {\mu}F / 2 kV capacitor bank, offering shot energies of < 6 J, supported PPA current pulsed durations of ~ 16 {\mu}s with observed peaks of 7.42 kA. Plasma jet exhaust velocity was measured at ~ 32 km/s using a time-of-flight technique via a set of double probes located along the jet's path. Intensified charge coupled device (ICCD) photography was concurrently leveraged to visualize plasma dynamics and mechanisms of the ignition / acceleration events. A peak thrust and impulse bit of 5.8 N and 35 {\mu}Ns, respectively, were estimated using large-area Langmuir probe measurements of total ion flux produced by the thruster.