Development of Optical Diagnostics for Performance Evaluation of Arcjet Thrusters

Download or read book Development of Optical Diagnostics for Performance Evaluation of Arcjet Thrusters written by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-07-06 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Laser and optical emission-based measurements have been developed and implemented for use on low-power hydrogen arcjet thrusters and xenon-propelled electric thrusters. In the case of low power hydrogen arcjets, these laser induce fluorescence measurements constitute the first complete set of data that characterize the velocity and temperature field of such a device. The research performed under the auspices of this NASA grant includes laser-based measurements of atomic hydrogen velocity and translational temperature, ultraviolet absorption measurements of ground state atomic hydrogen, Raman scattering measurements of the electronic ground state of molecular hydrogen, and optical emission based measurements of electronically excited atomic hydrogen, electron number density, and electron temperature. In addition, we have developed a collisional-radiative model of atomic hydrogen for use in conjunction with magnetohydrodynamic models to predict the plasma radiative spectrum, and near-electrode plasma models to better understand current transfer from the electrodes to the plasma. In the final year of the grant, a new program aimed at developing diagnostics for xenon plasma thrusters was initiated, and results on the use of diode lasers for interrogating Hall accelerator plasmas has been presented at recent conferences. Cappelli, Mark A. Unspecified Center...