Scholars' Mine Masters Theses Student Theses and Dissertations Summer 2017 Liquid pulsed plasma thruster plasma plume investigation and MR-SAT cold gas propulsion system performance analysis Jeremiah Daniel Hanna Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/masters_theses Part of the Aerospace Engineering Commons Department: Recommended Citation Hanna, Jeremiah Daniel, "Liquid pulsed plasma thruster plasma plume investigation and MR-SAT cold gas propulsion system performance analysis" (2017). Masters Theses. 7945. https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/masters_theses/7945 This thesis is brought to you by Scholars' Mine, a service of the Missouri S&T Library and Learning Resources. This work is protected by U. S. Copyright Law. Unauthorized use including reproduction for redistribution requires the permission of the copyright holder. For more information, please contact [email protected]. i LIQUID PULSED PLASMA THRUSTER PLASMA PLUME INVESTIGATION AND MR-SAT COLD GAS PROPULSION SYSTEM PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS by JEREMIAH DANIEL HANNA A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the MISSOURI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF SCIENCE IN AEROSPACE ENGINEERING 2017 Approved by Dr Joshua Rovey, Advisor Dr Henry Pernicka, Co-Advisor Dr David Riggins ii iii ABSTRACT The plasma plume produced by a liquid pulsed plasma thruster is investigated using a Langmuir triple probe and a nude Faraday probe. The Langmuir triple probe failed to produce results which are suspected caused by the presence of ionic liquid in the plume resulting in shorting of the probe. The nude Faraday probe is able to record the ion current density which revealed a high level of inconsistency in the plasma plume. Ion current density recorded by the nude Faraday probe had a relative standard deviation of upwards of 100% of the mean value. Controlling the amount of propellant used during each pulse was extremely difficult. Investigating the plasma plume with more complex probes was not done due to the inconsistency measured by the nude Faraday probe and the expulsion of ionic liquid from the thruster which is highly corrosive to metals. Examining the historical thrust test data performed by the Missouri Satellite Research Team, a revised model with new assumptions was created and resulted in an improvement in accuracy to within 4.5%. The cold gas propulsion system developed over the years had undergone testing which resulted in measured thrust half of what was predicted. Developing a thrust prediction scheme that incorporates the effects of the solenoid control valve decreases the error to between 1-3% depending on temperature considerations. This thrust prediction scheme can be applied to the current design for the NanoSat 8 competition and results in an accurate prediction of thrust. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to deeply thank Dr Joshua Rovey for advising during my time as a graduate student at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He pushed me to explore concepts and ideas that I would not have on my own. I would also like to thank my co-advisor, Dr Henry Pernicka, for allowing me to explore and access the design and concepts of the Missouri Satellite Research Team. I would also like to mention all the members of the Aerospace Plasma Laboratory who have been enormously helpful and friendly. I would especially like to thank Matthew Glascock for assisting me with setting up the plasma plume analysis experiments and teaching me how to run the large vacuum chamber. I have been extremely fortunate to have the encouragement, love, and understanding of my wife Jennifer Neighbors. She has been incredibly helpful in keeping me on track to finish my academics endeavors. I also must thank my parents, Michael and Lori Hanna, and my siblings Sarah Hanna, Douglas Hanna, and Joshua Hanna for their support. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ........................................................................................... viii LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................. x NOMENCLATURE .......................................................................................................... xi SECTION 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1. TYPES OF SPACECRAFT PROPULSION SYSTEMS ................................... 2 1.1.1. Primary Propulsion Systems. ................................................................... 3 1.1.1.1 Liquid propellant rocket engines. .................................................4 1.1.1.2 Solid propellant rocket motors. .....................................................6 1.1.1.3 Hybrid propellant rocket engine. ..................................................8 1.1.2. Secondary Propulsion Systems. ............................................................. 10 1.1.2.1 Cold gas propulsion systems. ......................................................10 1.1.2.2 Monopropellant propulsion systems. ..........................................12 1.1.2.3 Bipropellant propulsion systems. ................................................14 1.1.2.4 Solid propellant propulsion systems. ..........................................16 1.1.2.5 Electric propulsion systems. .......................................................16 1.1.2.5.1 Electrostatic propulsion systems. ................................ 17 1.1.2.5.2 Electrothermal propulsion systems. ............................ 20 1.1.2.5.3 Electromagnetic propulsion systems........................... 22 1.2. THESIS FORMAT ........................................................................................... 24 2. LIQUID PULSED PLASMA THRUSTER PLASMA PLUME ANALYSIS ......... 25 2.1. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................. 25 2.1.1. Plasma Plume Analysis. ......................................................................... 25 2.1.1.1 Nude Faraday probe. ...................................................................26 2.1.1.2 Langmuir triple probe. ................................................................27 2.1.2. PPT Plasma Plume Analysis. ................................................................. 27 vi 2.1.2.1 Eckman, et al. ..............................................................................28 2.1.2.2 Kumagai, et al. ............................................................................28 2.1.2.3 Schönherr, et al. ..........................................................................28 2.1.2.4 Li, et al. .......................................................................................29 2.1.2.5 Parker. .........................................................................................30 2.1.2.6 Gatsonis, et al. .............................................................................30 2.1.3. High Performance Electric Monopropellant. ......................................... 31 2.1.4. Experimental Liquid Pulsed Plasma Thrusters. ..................................... 32 2.2. TESTED LPPT ................................................................................................. 33 2.2.1. Design of the LPPT. ............................................................................... 33 2.2.2. MEDiC. .................................................................................................. 34 2.2.3. VLAD. .................................................................................................... 35 2.2.4. GEM 10T. ............................................................................................... 35 2.3. EXPERIMENTAL METHODOLOGY ............................................................ 36 2.3.1. LPPT Experiment Procedure. ................................................................. 36 2.3.2. Langmuir Triple Probe. .......................................................................... 38 2.3.3. Nude Faraday Probe. .............................................................................. 39 2.3.4. Propellant Mass Investigation. ............................................................... 40 2.4. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS.......................................................................... 41 2.5. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS .......................................................................... 49 3. MR SAT PROPULSION SYSTEM PERFORMANCE REVIEW .......................... 51 3.1. MR SAT PROPULSION SYSTEM ................................................................. 51 3.1.1. Propulsion System Design. ..................................................................... 52 3.1.2. Original Thruster Design. ....................................................................... 52 3.1.3. Current Thruster Design. ........................................................................ 53 3.2. PREVIOUS PERFORMANCE PREDICTIONS AND EXPERIMENTS ....... 53 3.2.1. Historical Thrust Prediction. .................................................................. 54 3.2.2. NVT Performance Parametric Study. ..................................................... 57 3.2.2.1 Experimental methodology. ........................................................57