Experimental Studies of the Helicon In ected Inertial Plasma Electrostatic Rocket (HIIPER)

摘要

The Helicon In ected Inertial Plasma Electrostatic Rocket (HIIPER) is a space propulsion concept using a helicon plasma source and grids from inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) fusion theory. The helicon source generates a dense plasma, and the IEC grids extract the ions, producing a thrust. A unique feature of this setup is that the IEC grids are designed to also produce a et of electrons, resulting in a neutralized plasma exhaust. In this study, a Langmuir probe and a Mach probe have been placed at the interface between the helicon and grid system, and a retarding potential analyzer (RPA) has been placed downstream. Langmuir probe results show electron temperatures ranging from 15 to 30 eV, depending on the bias potential of the helicon plasma. Mach probe results provide some preliminary data on the Mach number. RPA results indicate that ions are exiting with energies approximately equal to the bias potential of the helicon plasma. RPA results also show that high energy electrons are present when a potential of a few negative kV is applied to the IEC grid system. These results are encouraging, suggesting that the basic concept behind HIIPER is sound.