Experimental Study about the Space Propulsion System Using Stardust as Propellant

提出了一种以星尘为推进剂的新型空间推进系统。预计这样的系统可以减少我们必须从地球带来的推进剂。设计制作了模拟星尘的固体微粒通过等离子体充电的新型加速器和不依赖重力供给的新型推进剂供给模块，并对微粒的加速性能进行了测试。结果得到了接近理论极限值的高充电效率，推力值比以前的研究提高了一个数量级。

A new space propulsion system using stardust as propellant was proposed. It is expected that such system can reduce the propellant that we must bring from the earth. The new accelerator in which the solid micro particles that imitate stardust was charged through plasma and the new propellant supply module in which the supply was not depended by gravity were designed and produced, and the acceleration performance of micro particles was examined. As a result, a high charge efficiency that is almost the theoretical limit value is achieved, and one order higher value of thrust was obtained compared with the preceding study.