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Beam Powered Propulsion Systems Beam Powered Propulsion Systems Nishant Agarwal University of Colorado, Boulder, 80309 While chemical rockets have dominated space exploration, other forms of rocket propulsion based on nuclear power, electrostatic and magnetic drives, and other principles have been considered from the earliest days of the field with the goal to improve efficiency through higher exhaust velocities, in order to reduce the amount of fuel the rocket vehicle needs to carry. However, the gap between technology to reach orbit from surface and from orbit to interplanetary travel still remains open considering both economics of time and money. In addition, methods have been tested over the years to reach the orbit with single stage rocket from earth’s surface which will eventually result in drastic cost savings. Reusable SSTO vehicles offer the promise of reduced launch expenses by eliminating recurring costs associated with hardware replacement inherent in expendable launch systems. No Earth- launched SSTO launch vehicles have ever been constructed till date. Beam Powered Propulsion has emerged as a promising concept that is capable to fulfill all regimes of space travel. This paper takes a look at these concepts and studies the feasibility of Microwave Propulsion for possibility of SSTO vehicle. Nomenclature At = nozzle throat area C* = characteristic velocity Cf = Thrust Coefficient Cp = Specific heat constant Dt, Dexit = Diameter of nozzle throat, Nozzle exit diameter g = acceleration due to gravity Gamma = Specific heat ratio LOX/LH = Liquid Oxygen/Liquid Hydrogen MR = mass ratio Mi,Ms,Mp = total mass, structural mass, propellant mass, payload mass Mpayl = payload mass Mdot = flow rate Isp = Specific Impulse Ve = exhaust velocity I. Introduction n the year 2015 launching to orbit is still done in the same way as was done 6 decades ago. As described by the I rocket equation, this is due partly to the structural limits of existing materials, and partly to the limited specific impulse (Isp) of chemical propellants, which have reached a practical limit of 460 seconds. When considering how much propellant is consumed by launch vehicles, one realizes that present day propulsion systems are the means to, and at the same time a bottle neck to the access to space. Currently, the spectrum of option is bimodal: either large thrust with lower specific impulse, as with chemical propulsion or high specific impulse at the expense of low thrust, as with electric propulsion. The only fully developed option available to get into orbit is Chemical Propulsion, which turns out to be a very costly affair to launch payloads into orbit. Although, this have been realized for many years now, the recent increase in demand in the satellite market and the interest of general community in space access has highlighted this issue like never before resulting in the involvement of both government as well as private companies to explore new options for cost reduction. Innovative economic models are been developed in addition to the development of technology. It is been realized that chemical rockets have nearly reached their technological maturity, 1 with improvements mainly being sought in the areas of reliability, cost, diagnostics or controllability. Some exceptions are the potential for active control of combustion instabilities, or the possible miniaturization of these rockets. Approach towards beyond-orbital space travel has started to change in recent years with emergence of electric propulsion which shows great promise for the futuristic interplanetary travels. Instead of the short, powerful burn and fast acceleration of a chemical engine, such advanced engines burn for long periods of time, providing a continuous gentle nudge that builds up. Most such schemes cannot be used to propel payloads from the surface of the Earth into orbit, but they provide great advantages for interplanetary flight. Since these engines do not use chemical reactions, they do not need to carry an oxidizer like liquid oxygen. This can simplify system plumbing. Nuclear propulsion has also been a prominent candidate as the source of energy for rocket propulsion been studied for many years. Despite the high Isp of 700–950 seconds, solid core nuclear rockets to date still cannot reach orbit because the nuclear reactor is heavy and makes the thrust-to-weight ratio (T/W) too low. The low T/W means that if the rocket can get off the ground at all, it spends a long time accelerating to orbital velocity. During this extra time, the ascent trajectory accumulates greater drag and gravity losses, which increase the total ΔV of the ascent, decreasing the payload fraction and greatly reducing the advantage of higher Isp. This calls for a study of other advanced propulsion systems that can fill the voids left by the above stated systems. II. Theory Beam-powered propulsion is a class of aircraft or spacecraft propulsion mechanism that uses energy beamed to the spacecraft from a remote power plant to provide energy. The beamed energy propulsion concept is similar to nuclear or solar thermal propulsion, where a working fluid is heated in a heat exchanger and then expanded through a nozzle. In the beamed energy concept, the heat exchanger is powered by an electromagnetic beam produced on the ground and propagated through the atmosphere – the power source and its accompanying weight is left on the ground. The major theoretical advantages of this concept are high Isp, high thrust to weight ratios, and the accompanying payload fraction and structural margin increases.[21] The beam would typically either be a beam of microwaves or a laser. Lasers are subdivided into either pulsed or continuous beamed. As high-power laser technology continues to mature the possibility of using a laser to generate rocket thrust for propulsion applications grows more feasible. The laser propulsion concept was first introduced by Kantrowitz, more than thirty years ago, and was experimentally demonstrated by Krier and by Myrabo. As with any thermal propulsion system, the efficiency of conversion of laser beam energy into the kinetic energy of propellant gas is a critical figure of merit. In addressing laser thruster performance it is useful to consider both the absorption efficiency as well as the propulsion efficiency. In the context of laser thrusters, the propulsion efficiency is a measure of how much absorbed energy appears as kinetic energy of the propellant at the nozzle exit. In addition, microwaves can be used to heat a suitable heat exchanger, which in turn heats a propellant. This can give a combination of high specific impulse (700–900 seconds) as well as good thrust/weight ratio (50-150). III. Categories of Beam Powered Propulsion Systems 1) Thermal Systems – A laser thermal system is both a beamed power system and a thermal system. The thermal energy source is a laser, which heats the working fluid through a heat exchanger. The working fluid is then expanded through a nozzle to produce thrust. Depending upon the laser power thrust to weight ratios similar to that of chemical propulsion can be achieved with very high specific impulse. A variant of the energy source is Microwave powered system. The laser propelled heat-exchanger (HX launcher) concept was suggested by Kare (1995). The heat exchanger operates in a laminar regime by analogy to designs used for integrated circuit cooling. The heating channels are 200 μm wide by 2 mm deep and 3 cm long, raising the hydrogen propellant temperature to 1300 K; corresponding to an Isp of ~ 600 s. Kare estimates the heat-exchanger mass to be 125 kg for a 5.4 ton vehicle carrying a 122 kg payload, corresponding to a payload fraction of 2.26%. 2 Figure 1 Laser Powered Thermal Propulsion System Concept Design 2) Electrothermal propulsion, as opposed to thermal propulsion, uses the plasmadynamic breakdown of the propellant itself to absorb incoming radiation, thereby heating it to a very high temperature. Early experiments revealed that plasma forming in a propulsive duct has a tendency to propagate toward the source of radiation. This effect was first studied by Raizer (1972) Figure 2 Laser Powered Electrothermal propulsion Thus far the majority of electrothermal propulsion work has focused on in-space propulsion, which operates at far lower pressures and mass flow rates than needed to produce a T/W ratio large enough for launch. The scalability of these techniques to the high pressure, high mass flow rate regime need for launch has yet to be demonstrated. 3) Molecular Absorption Propulsion – In contrast to the electron inverse bremsstrahlung absorption of plasma formation, molecular absorption is achieved via excitation of an internal rotation or vibration mode. The molecular absorption approach for laser propulsion was previously identified by Caledonia in 1975. By acting on the propellant itself or a seed molecule, heating of the flow can be achieved in subsonic or supersonic flows without the use of plasmas. Because area variation along the flowpath can be used to offset temperature increases, more gradual addition of energy at lower temperatures could result in propulsion systems with less stringent cooling requirements and lower frozen-flow losses. As the propellant gas flows through and around the stationary plasma high bulk temperatures are sustained which can be in excess of 10,000 K in gases such as argon. Stable LSPs were created and observed by Keefer, who report absorption efficiencies as high as 86%. [1] 3 4) Rectenna Based Concepts - A rectenna is a rectifying antenna, a special type of antenna that is used to convert microwave energy into direct current electricity. They are used in wireless power transmission systems that transmit power by radio waves. Rectennas have been developed over a number of years in large part due to the efforts of Brown (1984; 1992), who demonstrated the flight of an helicopter using 2.45 GHz microwaves in 1964.
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