An Ablative Pulsed Plasma Thruster Based on Multianode Electrode Geometry

This article presents a special surface discharge achieved by a multi-anode electrode geometry (MAEG). This surface discharge can be applied to the ablative pulsed plasma thruster (APPT) and solve the problem of beam divergence. The MAEG changes the discharge characteristics of the surface discharge and extends the Z-pinch existing within the thruster to the plasma plume outside of the nozzle compared with the conventional electrode geometry (CEG). The enhanced-MAEG further promotes the confinement effect of plasma plume by the θ-pinch. The discharge phenomenon shows that the visible plasma plume lengths of the MAEG and the enhanced-MAEG have been prolonged effectively compared with that of the CEG. The electron densities of the MAEG and the enhanced-MAEG in axial direction have also been measured to reach 3.5 and 4 times of that of the CEG. Through microthrust measurement, the MAEG APPT and the enhanced-MAEG APPT have been proven to have superior performance in terms of the impulse bit and the thrust-to-power ratio than that of the CEG APPT. The MAEG and the enhanced-MAEG could achieve improved propulsion performance with its system advantages by special electrode geometries. It has been found that the MAEG and the enhanced-MAEG have the potential to be used in the field of microsatellites propulsion.