Advanced materials for space propulsion: satellites and cubesats

等离子体和表面之间的相互作用控制不佳，往往意味着随着时间的推移，工艺效率会下降，表面会退化。对于霍尔推进器（一种用于在太空中移动卫星的发动机）来说，这意味着燃料消耗增加，使用寿命缩短。通过建模和实验，该项目将展示先进材料和等离子体参数的智能选择如何最大限度地减少表面磨损，使原位材料修复能够延长设备使用寿命，并调节等离子体特性以提高给定任务的推进器效率。这些优点为大规模通信和观测卫星网络以及深空探测提供了可靠的推进平台。

Poorly controlled interactions between plasmas and surfaces often mean loss of process efficiency and surface degradation over time. For Hall thrusters, a type of engine used to move satellites in space, this means increased fuel consumption and shorter useful life. Through modelling and experiment, this project will show how intelligent selection of advanced materials and plasma parameters can minimise surface wear, enable in situ material repair to extend device lifetime, and modulate plasma properties to increase thruster efficiency for a given task. These benefits enable reliable propulsion platforms for massive communication and observation satellite networks and deep space exploration.