Review of Micro-Propulsion Ablative Devices

摘要

OUTLINE: * Examples of micro propulsion ablative devices * Fundamentals of ablation * Detailed analysis of specific devices: Micro-Pulsed Plasma Thruster -- Micro-Laser Plasma Thruster -- Micro-Vacuum Arc Thruster * SUMMARY: * Various microthruster technologies based on ablative mechanism were developed. * Self-consistent modeling approach for ablative micro-thrusters was formulated based on a kinetic ablation model and particle plume simulation. * Most extensive validation of the modeling approach was performed for micro- pulsed plasma thruster. Plasma density, surface temperature, ablation rate, ablation profile were compared with experiment. Optimization criteria were formulated for some devices, such as microPPT.