Experimental investigation of electric propulsion systems using C12A7 electride hollow cathodes

Abstract

The development and experimental investigation of two low-power electric propulsion concepts using compact heaterless C12A7 electride (C12A7:e-) hollow cathodes is presented. The first concept represents an electrothermal thruster, in which a cathode discharge is used to heat a gas that is subsequently accelerated in a nozzle-shaped anode. The second propulsion system is an attempt to develop a sub-500 W magnetoplasmadynamic thruster (MPDT) that uses a rectangular discharge channel that allows to increase the applied magnetic field and thus lower the necessary discharge current. Extensive parameter studies with both concepts were conducted, and the thrust and discharge properties of different geometric and operational configurations were determined. This work is a follow-up publication of a previous paper (Gondol and Tajmar in CEAS Space J 14:65–77, 2021).