Sponsor:
Min Li's work has been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11872093).
Mario Merino and Eduardo Ahedo's work has been supported by the Spanish R&D National Plan under grant
number ESP2016-75887-P.
Project:
Gobierno de España. ESP2016-75887-P
Keywords:
Electric space propulsion
,
Plasma plumes
,
Particle in cell
,
Simulation
,
Boundary conditions
,
Particle simulations
,
Model
,
Propulsion
,
Physics
The collisionless, steady state expansion of a warm electron, cold ion plasma thruster plume into vacuum is studied with an electrostatic particle-in-cell model and globally-consistent boundary conditions that discriminate between reflected and escaping electrThe collisionless, steady state expansion of a warm electron, cold ion plasma thruster plume into vacuum is studied with an electrostatic particle-in-cell model and globally-consistent boundary conditions that discriminate between reflected and escaping electrons. As a proof of concept, several simulations are analyzed. Results from both two-dimensional planar and axisymmetric plasma plumes are discussed. In particular, the electron anisothermal and anisotropic behavior in the plume is recovered.[+][-]
Description:
Min Li's work has been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11872093). Mario Merino and Eduardo Ahedo's work has been supported by the Spanish R&D National Plan under grant number ESP2016-75887-P.