• Dr. Alexey Shashurin
  • The George Washington University
  • 1060 Torgersen Hall
  • 5:00 p.m.
  • Faculty Host: Dr. Rakesh Kapania

A low-mass, low-volume propulsion subsystem for small satellites that would provide attitude control and station keeping duties is one of the key area of interest for US Army and has high priority for NASA (Low Cost Access to Space program), NSF (CubeSat program) and other funding agencies. Propulsion systems based on electrically activated small thrusters that utilize chemically-inert solid propellants are beneficial for these applications. Micro-thrusters are able to deliver small impulse bits of about several mN×s to satellites and characterized by simplicity, scalability, low cost, low weight and high reliability. The central goal of this talk is to present our recent R&D advances in the field of micro-Cathode Arc Thruster (mCAT) and demonstrate its high potential for commercialization and application in future space missions.

The introductory part of this talk is about main principles of plasma utilization in electrical propulsion and, in particular, unique suitability of vacuum arc for propulsion applications. The main part of the presentation will start with brief consideration of operation principle of mCAT. We will discuss propellant feeding mechanism, electrical design of the system and analyze role of magnetic field to extend operational lifetime of the mCAT. In the next part of the talk we will give some details on recent studies of processes occurring in three regions, namely near the electrodes, inside the mCAT channel and in the exhaust jet. We will demonstrate rotation of the cathode spots along the cathode interface and corresponding rotation of the exhaust jet, effective transport of the flow through the thruster channel and its acceleration at expansion into vacuum. Measurements of thrust, specific impulse, propellant consumption rate, plasma parameters and back flux will be presented and discussed. In the end of the talk, we will consider comprehensive data of mCAT parameters and compare its performance with commercially available thrusters.