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NASA NTRS2018

Acceleration Modes and Transitions in Pulsed Plasma Accelerators

Pulsed plasma accelerators typically operate by storing energy in a capacitor bank and then discharging this energy through a gas, ionizing and accelerating it through the Lorentz body force. Two plasma accelerator types employing this general scheme have typically been studied: the gas-fed pulsed plasma thruster and the quasi-steady magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) accelerator. The gas-fed pulsed plasma accelerator is generally represented as a completely transient device discharging in approximately 1-10 microseconds. When the capacitor bank is discharged through the gas, a current sheet forms at the breech of the thruster and propagates forward under a j (current density) by B (magnetic field) body force, entraining propellant it encounters. This process is sometimes referred to as detonation-mode acceleration because the current sheet representation approximates that of a strong shock propagating through the gas. Acceleration of the initial current sheet ceases when either the current sheet reaches the end of the device and is ejected or when the current in the circuit reverses, striking a new current sheet at the breech and depriving the initial sheet of additional acceleration. In the quasi-steady MPD accelerator, the pulse is lengthened to approximately 1 millisecond or longer and maintained at an approximately constant level during discharge. The time over which the transient phenomena experienced during startup typically occur is short relative to the overall discharge time, which is now long enough for the plasma to assume a relatively steady-state configuration. The ionized gas flows through a stationary current channel in a manner that is sometimes referred to as the deflagration-mode of operation. The plasma experiences electromagnetic acceleration as it flows through the current channel towards the exit of the device. A device that had a short pulse length but appeared to operate in a plasma acceleration regime different from the gas-fed pulsed plasma accelerators was developed by Cheng, et al. The Coaxial High ENerGy (CHENG) thruster operated on the 10-microseconds timescales of pulsed plasma thrusters, but claimed high thrust density, high efficiency and low electrode erosion rates, which are more consistent with the deflagration mode of acceleration. Separate work on gas-fed pulsed plasma thrusters (PPTs) by Ziemer, et al. identified two separate regimes of performance. The regime at higher mass bits (termed Mode I in that work) possessed relatively constant thrust efficiency (ratio of jet kinetic energy to input electrical energy) as a function of mass bit. In the second regime at very low mass bits (termed Mode II), the efficiency increased with decreasing mass bit. Work by Poehlmann et al. and by Sitaraman and Raja sought to understand the performance of the CHENG thruster and the Mode I / Mode II performance in PPTs by modeling the acceleration using the Hugoniot Relation, with the detonation and deflagration modes representing two distinct sets of solutions to the relevant conservation laws. These works studied the proposal that, depending upon the values of the various controllable parameters, the accelerator would operate in either the detonation or deflagration mode. In the present work, we propose a variation on the explanation for the differences in performance between the various pulsed plasma accelerators. Instead of treating the accelerator as if it were only operating in one mode or the other during a pulse, we model the initial stage of the discharge in all cases as an accelerating current sheet (detonation mode). If the current sheet reaches the exit of the accelerator before the discharge is completed, the acceleration mode transitions to the deflagration mode type found in the quasi-steady MPD thrusters. This modeling method is used to demonstrate that standard gas-fed pulsed plasma accelerators, the CHENG thruster, and the quasi-steady MPD accelerator are variations of the same device, with the overall acceleration of the plasma depending upon the behavior of the plasma discharge during initial transient phase and the relative lengths of the detonation and deflagration modes of operation.

Polzin, Kurt A.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Fusion for Space Propulsion

There is little doubt that humans will attempt to explore and develop the solar system in this century. A large amount of energy will be required for accomplishing this. The need for fusion propulsion is discussed. For a propulsion system, there are three important thermodynamical attributes: (1) The absolute amount of energy available, (2) the propellant exhaust velocity, and (3) the jet power per unit mass of the propulsion system (specific power). For human exploration and development of the solar system, propellant exhaust velocity in excess of 100 km/s and specific power in excess of 10 kW/kg are required. Chemical combustion can produce exhaust velocity up to about 5 km/s. Nuclear fission processes typically result in producing energy in the form of heat that needs to be manipulated at temperatures limited by materials to about 2,800 K. Using the energy to heat a hydrogen propellant increases the exhaust velocity by only a factor of about two. Alternatively the energy can be converted into electricity which is then used to accelerate particles to high exhaust velocity. The necessary power conversion and conditioning equipment, however, increases the mass of the propulsion system for the same jet power by more than two orders of magnitude over chemical system, thus greatly limits the thrust-to-weight ratio attainable. The principal advantage of the fission process is that its development is relatively mature and is available right now. If fusion can be developed, fusion appears to have the best of all worlds in terms of propulsion - it can provide the absolute amount, the propellant exhaust velocity, and the high specific jet power. An intermediate step towards pure fusion propulsion is a bimodal system in which a fission reactor is used to provide some of the energy to drive a fusion propulsion unit. The technical issues related to fusion for space propulsion are discussed. The technical priorities for developing and applying fusion for propulsion are somewhat different from those for terrestrial electrical power generation. Thus fusion schemes that are initially attractive for electrical power generation might not necessarily be attractive also for propulsion and vice versa, though the underlying fusion science and engineering enjoy much overlap. Parallel efforts to develop these qualitatively differently fusion schemes for the two applications could benefit greatly from each other due to the synergy in the underlying physics and engineering. Pulsed approaches to fusion have not been explored to the same degree as steady-state or long-pulse approaches to fusion in the fusion power research program. The concerns early on were several. One was that the pulsed power components might not have the service lifetimes meeting the requirements of a practical power generating plant. Another was that, for many pulsed fusion schemes, it was not clear whether the destruction of hardware per pulse could be minimized or eliminated or recycled to such an extent as to make economical electrical power generation feasible, Significant development of the underlying pulsed power component technologies have occurred in the last two decades because of defense and other energy requirements. The state of development of the pulsed power technologies are sufficiently advanced now to make it compelling to visit or re-visit pulsed fusion approaches for application to propulsion where the cost of energy is not so demanding a factor as in the case of terrestrial power application. For propulsion application, the overall mass of the fusion system is the critical factor. Producing fusion reactions require extreme states of matter. Conceptually, these extreme states of matter are more readily realizable in the pulsed states, at least within appropriate bounds, than in the steady states. Significant saving in system mass may result in such systems. Magnetic fields are effective in confining plasma energy, whereas inertial compression is an effective way of heating and containing the plasma. Intensive research in developing magnetic energy containment and inertial plasma compression are being pursued in distinctively different fusion experiments in the terrestrial fusion power program. Fusion schemes that attempt to combine the favorable attributes of these two aspects into one single integrated fusion scheme appear to have benefits that are worth exploring for propulsion application.

Thio, Y. C. Francis↗