Microwave-excited microplasma thruster: a numerical and experimental study of the plasma generation and micronozzle flow

摘要

A microplasma thruster of the electrothermal type has been developed using azimuthally symmetric microwave-excited microplasmas. The plasma source was similar to 2mm in diameter and similar to 10mm long, and operated at around atmospheric pressures; the micronozzle was a converging-diverging type, having a throat similar to 0.2mm in diameter and similar to 1mm long. Numerical and experimental results with Ar demonstrated that this miniature electrothermal thruster gives a thrust of > 1 mN, a specific impulse of similar to 100 s and a thrust efficiency of similar to 10% at a microwave power of < 10W.