Propulsion
Sahar noori; Rojin Shokri Khanghah; mohammad nadafipour meibody
Abstract
Microwave electrothermal thruster is the propellant that converts microwave energy into heat energy. nowadays, with the technology development of electric thrusters are very important in terms of producing high specific impact and low fuel consumption. These thrusters can produce acceptable thrust over ...
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Microwave electrothermal thruster is the propellant that converts microwave energy into heat energy. nowadays, with the technology development of electric thrusters are very important in terms of producing high specific impact and low fuel consumption. These thrusters can produce acceptable thrust over a long period of time, which are suitable for spiral orbital transfer missions. In this type of propulsion, the propellant gas is heated and expanded, which produces the propulsion force. This paper presents the conceptual design process of a microwave thermal thruster. The propulsion system includes propellant, propulsion storage tank, amplification chamber, and power plant, which includes batteries and solar arrays. In this paper, the method of calculating the mass and the characteristics of each are presented in detail. Finally, in order to validate the conceptual design process presented in this study, the necessary studies have been discussed. Conceptual design has been done for a 100 kg satellite, which is desirable to travel in a week from an orbital height of 300 to 800 km during a spiral treansfer. The propulsion system and mass of each subsystem are obtained.
