Measurements of ablation phenomena on coaxial pulsed plasma thruster with separated propellant

• Main Author: Kobayashi, Akira
• Format: Article
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: TL Motor vehicles. Aeronautics. Astronautics
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/40701/

Coaxial pulsed plasma thrusters (PPT) are electrothermal thrusters for space use. In previous studies performed at Gifu University on the coaxial PPT (GOS-II), the duration of the late-time ablation was estimated from the durations of luminescence with and without the use of a bandpass filter. In the present study, to more quantitatively estimate the duration of the late-time ablation, the ablated gas behavior was investigated by high-speed photography for the propellants separated using a glass tube. As a result, the velocities of the neutral gas generated during the late-time ablation were measured for various cavity geometries, and the durations of the late-time ablation were evaluated. In addition, the potential for practical use of the separated propellant was confirmed from the viewpoint of the plume velocity.