Throttleable solid propellant microthruster using laser-assisted combustion

摘要

This paper describes design and experiments of a 100-mN class solid propellant thruster where thrust production was started, interrupted, and restarted by adjusting laser irradiation. We have proposed that the combustion of fuel rich solid propellant can be interrupted and restarted by adjusting near-infrared laser irradiation, and experimentally showed that the combustion was controllable using lasers. A solid propellant thruster with fiber-coupling laser diode was prototyped to show that the proposed thruster yield thrust and evaluate performance. The prototype has an acryl thrust chamber a traverse device moving laser output port along the longitudinal axis of the solid propellant in order to allow laser beam to transmit through clean window that is not contaminated by the combustion gas. Thrust measurement showed that thrust production was started, interrupted and restarted by adjusting laser diode power at a laser power density of 0.69 W mm~(-2). The thruster yielded a thrust of 100 mN whereas the combustion was unstable.