Simulation of Mini-Magnetospheric Plasma Propulsion (M2P2) Interacting with an External Plasma Wind
Simulation of Mini-Magnetospheric Plasma Propulsion (M2P2) Interacting with an External Plasma Wind
复制标题
微型磁层等离子体推进 (M2P2) 与外部等离子体风相互作用的模拟
DOI：
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发表时间：
2003
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
L. Giersch
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
R. Winglee;P. Euripides;T. Ziemba;J. Slough;L. Giersch
过去一年，在研制实验室微型磁层等离子体推进器（M2P2）原型方面取得了重大进展。实验室测试表明，等离子体可以在高中性气体效率下，在高温（几十eV）下产生，具有良好的约束，直到室壁相互作用主导物理学的点。本文研究的性能的原型，因为它是由外部等离子体作为太阳风的替代品。这些实验是在华盛顿大学直径5英尺、长6英尺的真空室中进行的。太阳风源包括连接到200 kWe感应产生的等离子体源的33 kWe电弧喷射器。双等离子体源允许研究不同功率水平、发射持续时间和生产方法的相互作用。结果表明，当没有等离子体存在时，来自太阳风源（SWS）的等离子体能够穿透M2P2磁场。在M2P2等离子体源仅以1.5kWe操作的情况下，即使在200kWe的最高操作功率下SWS的穿透也被停止。这种偏转被证明是大大增强了由磁铁单独产生的。此外，它示出，与SWS的存在下，M2P2能够产生增强的磁化等离子体生产出至少10个磁铁半径的磁场强度仅略大于地面场。结果与最初的预测一致，即kWe M2P2系统将能够偏转数百kWe的等离子风，为航天器产生增强的推进力。
Substantial progress has been made over the last year in the development of the laboratory Mini-Magnetospheric Plasma Propulsion (M2P2) prototype. The laboratory testing has shown that that the plasma can be produced at high neutral gas efficiency, at high temperatures (a few tens of eV) with excellent confinement up to the point where chamber wall interactions dominate the physics. This paper investigates the performance of the prototype as it is opposed by an external plasma acting as a surrogate for the solar wind. The experiments were performed in 5ft diameter by 6ft long vacuum chamber at the University of Washington. The solar wind source comprised of a 33 kWe arc jet attached to a 200 kWe inductively generated plasma source. The dual plasma sources allow the interaction to be studied for different power levels, shot duration and production method. It is shown that plasma from the solar wind source (SWS) is able to penetrate the field of the M2P2 magnetic when no plasma is present. With operation of the M2P2 plasma source at only 1.5 kWe, the penetration of the SWS even at the highest power of operation at 200 kWe is stopped. This deflection is shown to be greatly enhanced over that produced by the magnet alone. In addition it is shown that with the presence of the SWS, M2P2 is able to produce enhanced magnetized plasma production out to at least 10 magnet radii where the field strength is only marginally greater than the terrestrial field. The results are consistent with the initial predictions that kWe M2P2 systems would be able to deflect several hundred kWe plasma winds to produce enhanced propulsion for a spacecraft.