Chris Dobson

Plume detachment from a magnetic nozzle

High-powered electric propulsion thrusters utilizing a magnetized plasma require that plasma exhaust detach from the applied magnetic field in order to produce thrust. This paper presents experimental results demonstrating that a sufficiently energetic and flowing plasma can indeed detach from a magnetic nozzle. Microwave interferometer and probe measurements provide plume density, electron temperature, and ion flux measurements in the nozzle region. Measurements of ion flux show a low-beta plasma plume which follows applied magnetic field lines until the plasma kinetic pressure reaches the magnetic pressure and a high-beta plume expanding ballistically afterward. Several magnetic configurations were tested including a reversed field nozzle configuration. Despite the dramatic change in magnetic field profile, the reversed field configuration yielded little measurable change in plume trajectory, demonstrating the plume is detached. Numerical simulations yield density profiles in agreement with the experimental results.

Status of Magnetic Nozzle and Plasma Detachment Experiment

High power plasma propulsion can move large payloads for orbit transfer, lunar missions, and beyond with large savings in fuel consumption owing to the high specific impulse. At high power, lifetime of the thruster becomes an issue. Electrodeless devices with magnetically guided plasma offer the advantage of long life since magnetic fields confine the plasma radially and keep it from impacting the material surfaces. For decades, concerns have been raised about the plasma remaining attached to the magnetic field and returning to the vehicle along the closed magnetic field lines. Recent analysis suggests that this may not be an issue if the magnetic field is properly shaped in the nozzle region and the plasma has sufficient energy density to stretch the magnetic field downstream. An experiment is being performed to test the theory regarding the MHD detachment scenario. The status of that experiment will be discussed in this paper.

High accuracy plasma density measurement using hybrid Langmuir probe and microwave interferometer method

High spatial resolution plasma density measurements have been taken as part of an investigation into magnetic nozzle physics at the NASA/MSFC Propulsion Research Center. These measurements utilized a Langmuir triple probe scanned across the measurement chord of either of two stationary rf interferometers. By normalizing the scanned profile to the microwave interferometer line-integrated density measurement for each electrostatic probe measurement, the effect of shot-to-shot variation of the line-integrated density can be removed. In addition, by summing the voltage readings at each radial position in a transverse scan, the line density can be reconstituted, allowing the absolute density to be determined, assuming that the shape of the profile is constant from shot to shot. The spatial and temporal resolutions of this measurement technique depend on the resolutions of the scanned electrostatic probe and the interferometer. The measurement accuracy is 9%-15%, which is on the order of the accuracy of the rf interferometer. The measurement technique was compared directly with both scanning rf interferometer and standard Langmuir probe theory. The hybrid technique compares favorably with the scanning rf interferometer, and appears more accurate than probe theory alone. Additionally, our measurement technique is generally applicable even for nonaxisymmetric plasmas.

Instrument reflections and scene amplitude modulation in a polychromatic microwave quadrature interferometer

A polychromatic microwave quadrature interferometer has been characterized using several laboratory plasmas. Reflections between the transmitter and the receiver have been observed, and the effects of including reflection terms in the data reduction equation have been examined. An error analysis which includes the reflections, modulation of the scene beam amplitude by the plasma, and simultaneous measurements at two frequencies has been applied to the empirical database, and the results are summarized. For reflection amplitudes around 10%, the reflection terms were found to reduce the calculated error bars for electron density measurements by about a factor of 2. The impact of amplitude modulation is also quantified. In the complete analysis, the mean error bar for high-density measurements is 7.5%, and the mean phase shift error for low-density measurements is 1.2°.

Electron Density and Two-Channel Neutron Emission Measurements in Steady-State Spherical Inertial-Electrostatically Confined Plasmas, with Review of the One-Dimensional Kinetic Model

Electron density measurements have been made in steady-state plasmas in a spherical inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) discharge using microwave interferometry. Plasma cores interior to two cathodes, having diameters of 15 and 23 cm, respectively, were probed over a transverse range of 10 cm with a spatial resolution of about 1.4 cm for buffer gas pressures from 0.2 to 6 Pa in argon and deuterium. The transverse profiles are generally flat, in some cases with eccentric symmetric minima, and give mean densities of from ≈0.4 to 7×1010 cm−3, the density generally increasing with the neutral gas pressure. Numerical solutions of the one-dimensional Poisson equation for IEC plasmas are reviewed and energy distribution functions are identified which give flat transverse profiles. These functions are used with the plasma approximation to obtain solutions which also give densities consistent with the measurements, and a double potential well solution is obtained which has minima qualitatively similar to thos...

Results of a first generation least expensive approach to fission module tests: Non-nuclear testing of a fission system

The use of resistance heaters to simulate heat from fission allows extensive development of fission systems to be performed in non-nuclear test facilities, saving time and money. Resistance heated tests on the Module Unfueled Thermal-hydraulic Test (MUTT) article has been performed at the Marshall Space Flight Center. This paper discusses the results of these experiments to date, and describes the additional testing that will be performed. Recommendations related to the design of testable space fission power and propulsion systems are made.

Simulation and measurement of high-Beta plasma in a magnetic nozzle

The efficient extraction of thrust in a magnetic nozzle is of great importance to many future space propulsion designs. In several high-power EP thrusters, high magnetic fields are required to create and confine a quasineutral plasma. In order to produce thrust, this plasma exhaust must disengage from the applied magnetic fields downstream of the rocket. This paper presents a subset of results from an experiment investigating a high-powered plasma source emitting into a magnetic nozzle. In particular, numerical models and density profiles are presented which suggest that upon reaching high Beta (kinetic pressure > applied magnetic pressure) a flowing plasma will not be confined by the applied magnetic fields. The plasma will propagate as if it were detached from the magnetic fields.

Analysis of multifrequency interferometry in a cylindrical plasma

A microwave interferometer operating simultaneously at 70, 90, and 110GHz is used to measure line integrated electron density in a plasma column in the VX-20 experiment. Interferometer beam sizes are a significant part of the plasma radius at some locations. We model the wave propagation through the plasma using a scalar wave approximation with assumptions of a Gaussian beam profile and plasma spatial profile. The phase shifts obtained from this model are compared with standard thin beam calculations and experimental data.

Laser-induced fluorescence measurements of translational temperature and relative cycle number by use of optically pumped trace-sodium vapor

Sodium fluorescence induced by a narrow-bandwidth tunable laser has been used to measure temperature, pressure, axial velocity, and species concentrations in wind tunnels, rocket engine exhausts, and the upper atmosphere. Optical pumping of the ground states of the sodium, however, can radically alter the shape of the laser-induced fluorescence excitation spectrum, complicating such measurements. Here a straightforward extension of rate equations originally proposed to account for the features of the pumped spectrum is used to make temperature measurements from spectra taken in pumped vapor. Also determined from the spectrum is the relative fluorescence cycle number, which has application to measurement of diffusion rate and transverse flow velocity. The accuracy of both the temperature and the cycle-number measurements is comparable with that of temperature measurements made in the absence of pumping.

Utilizing Fission Technology to Enable Rapid and Affordable Access to any Point in the Solar System

Fission technology can enable rapid, affordable access to any point in the solar system. Potential fission-based transportation options include bimodal nuclear thermal rockets, high specific energy propulsion systems, and pulsed fission propulsion systems. In-space propellant re-supply enhances the effective performance of all systems, but requires significant infrastructure development. Safe, timely, affordable utilization of first-generation space fission propulsion systems will enable the development of more advanced systems. First generation space systems will build on over 45 years of US and international space fission system technology development to minimize cost.