• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.95-108
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• 2019

Electric propulsion is a type of space propulsion with a high specific impulse by accelerating propellant using electrical energy and brings about reduction of the fuel mass and launch costs of satellites so that it is being extensively studied in the world. Electric thrusters are widely used for various purposes from micro satellites to large satellites and from low Earth orbit satellites to spacecraft for exploration. Recently, satellites using full-electric propulsion have been developed, and the number of satellites with electric propulsion is also gradually increasing. In this paper, the current status and trends of research on electric propulsion in the United States, Europe, and Japan will be reported.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.14-21
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• 2010

Ion thruster is a kind of electrostatic thruster that use electrostatic field in order to accelerate ionized propellant. Ion thruster have characteristics of small thrust but very high specific impulse among the electric thrusters. High specific impulse can reduce propellant consumption significantly. So, ion thruster have advantage for long time and long distance mission. Recently, plans for space exploration is increasing gradually not only at traditional forward countries for space like USA, Russia and Europe, but also other countries like Japan, China and India. Exploration for superior planets and asteroids the propellant ratio can go up to about 99% when chemical propulsion is used as a cruising thruster. Therefore, latest space exploration vehicles use the ion thruster as main thruster for del-V burn and use monopropellant thrusters for attitude control. In this paper, the development process of preliminary ECR ion thruster and the ECR discharge test results will be presented.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.490-495
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• 2009

A small Hall-effect thruster with a thrust range near 10 mN and a specific impulse of about 1500 s has been designed to control or maintain the orbits of small satellites. The thruster system consists of a hall-effect thruster head, a power processing unit and a Xenon (Xe) gas feed system. The total mass, the consumed electric power and the efficiency of the thruster are approximately 10 kg, 300W and 30%, respectively. Analyses results that support the selection of the thruster for small satellites are provided along with a brief description of the thruster system.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.65-72
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• 2021

700 W class laboratory model Hall thruster, which can be used for the orbit control or station keeping of small satellites, was developed. The size of the discharge channel was determined using a scaling law, and the magnetic field was designed to be symmetric with respect to the midline of the discharge channel and to be maximized outside the discharge channel. Base pressure of a vacuum chamber was maintained below 2.0×10^-5 Torr during experiments, and the thrust was measured by a thrust stand. The anode flow rate and coil current were varied with the fixed anode voltage at 300 V. Under the operation condition at 2.36 mg/s anode flow rate and 2.4 A coil current, performance was optimized as 38 mN thrust, 1,540 s total specific impulse, and 50 % anode efficiency at 620 W anode power.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.45.3-46
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• 2009

홀 추력기는 비교적 간단한 구조와 작은 크기 및 높은 연료효율로 미래 소형위성의 핵심기술로 주목 받고 있다. 이 연구실에서는 2010년 발사예정인 과학기술위성 3호에 탑재할 소형위성용 저 전력 홀 추력기를 연구 개발하였다. 성능에 가장 큰 영향을 미치는 자기장 구조는 FEMM전산코드를 이용한 해석을 통해 설계되었으며, 제작된 프로토타입의 실험을 통해 자기장의 세기 및 모양, 양극전압 및 기체유량에 따른 성능 특성을 관찰하였다. 또한 Faraday Probe와 Retarding Potential Analyzer (RPA), 랑뮈어 탐침 등을 이용해 이온빔의 분사각도 및 전류밀도, 이온에너지 분포, 플라즈마 전위 등을 측정하고 관찰된 특성을 물리적으로 분석하였다. 이러한 최적화 과정을 통해 설계된 비행모델의 시험 결과 양극전력 200 W, 제논 연료유량 0.85 mg/s 을 통해 11.2 mN 추력, 1350 s 비추력, 37% 추력효율을 획득하여 개발목표를 상회하는 만족할만한 결과를 얻었다.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.36 no.9
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• pp.907-915
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• 2008

The computational fluid dynamic analysis has been conducted for the thermo-chemical flow field in an arcjet thruster with mono-propellant Hydrazine (N2H4) as a working fluid. The Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations are modified to analyze compressible flows with the thermal radiation and electric field. the Maxwell equation, which is loosely coupled with the fluid dynamic equations through the Ohm heating and Lorentz forces, is adopted to analyze the electric field induced by the electric arc. The chemical reactions of Hydrazine were assumed to be infinitely fast due to the high temperature field inside the arcjet thruster. The chemical and the thermal radiation models for the nitrogen-hydrogen mixture and optical thick media respectively, were incorporated with the fluid dynamic equations. The results show that performance indices of the arcjet thruster with 1kW arc heating are improved by amount of 180% in thrust and 200% in specific impulse more than frozen flow. In addition thermo-physical process inside the arcjet thruster is understood from the flow field results.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.496-501
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• 2009

The thruster head unit of a 300 W cylindrical Hall thruster was developed for the propulsion system of small satellites. The magnetic topology in the thruster channel is a key parameter to achieve high performances. Two types of magnetic circuit structures were designed and manufactured to compare the thrust levels and efficiencies. Also the endurance test was conducted to measure the stable operation duration of the thruster head and to find degree of erosion after extended operation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.48 no.8
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• pp.611-620
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• 2020

The effect of discharge voltage on electron mean energy, electric potential, ionization rate, neutral and ion density of Hall thruster was analyzed using a two-dimensional axisymmetric hybrid model. The results of the code developed for this study such as discharge current, thrust, and plasma distribution according to discharge voltage of SPT-100ML Hall thruster were compared by experiments and calculations of other researchers for validation. The results show that the electron mean energy, the ionization rate, and the ion density are increased while the neutral density is decreased as the discharge voltage is increased. The thrust and the discharge current are proportional to the discharge voltage.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.432-439
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• 2015

MEMS solid thruster module is composed of solid thruster and its control board. It was developed for the purpose of an academic research. Therefore, thermo-mechanical design and verification for space usage were not considered in the design phase. To mount it on a cube satellite without any design modification, technical efforts at the system level structure design is required. In this study, we proposed a structural design concept to mount the MEMS thruster module by using brackets for guaranteeing structure safety under launch loads and easier mating and de-mating of MEMS thruster module during test phase. The effectiveness of the design has been verified through structural analysis and vibration test. In addition, electrical connection method using spring pins between MEMS thruster and control board is effective for guaranteeing the structural safety under launch vibration loads.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.84-89
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• 2011

A Xenon Feed System (XFS) has been developed for hall-effect thruster to small satellite space-propulsion system applications. The XFS delivers low pressure gas to the Anode and Cathode of thruster head unit from a xenon storage tank. Accurate throttling of the propellant mass flow rate is independently required for each channel of the thruster head unit. The mass flow rate to each channel is controlled using the accumulator tank pressure regulation through a micron orifice and isolation valve. This paper discusses the Xenon Feed System design including the component selections, performance estimation and functional test.