An atmosphere-breathing propulsion system using inductively coupled plasma source

作     者：Peng ZHENG Jianjun WU Yu ZHANG Bixuan CHE Yuanzheng ZHAO Peng ZHENG;Jianjun WU;Yu ZHANG;Bixuan CHE;Yuanzheng ZHAO

作者机构：College of Aerospace Science and EngineeringNational University of Defense TechnologyChangsha 410073China 

出 版 物：《Chinese Journal of Aeronautics》 (中国航空学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2023年第36卷第5期

页      面：223-238页

核心收录：

学科分类：080703[工学-动力机械及工程] 08[工学] 0807[工学-动力工程及工程热物理] 0702[理学-物理学] 

基　　金：funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. T2221002) 

主　　题：Atmosphere-Breathing Electric Propulsion(ABEP) CubeSat Inductively coupled plasma Intake device Very Low Earth Orbit(VLEO) 

摘      要：CubeSats have attracted more research interest recently due to their lower cost and shorter production time.A promising technology for CubeSat application is atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion,which can capture the atmospheric particles as propulsion propellant to maintain longterm mission at very low Earth orbit.This paper designs an atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion system for a 3 U CubeSat,which consists of an intake device and an electric thruster based on the inductively coupled plasma.The capture performance of intake device is optimized considering both particles capture efficiency and compression ratio.The plasma source is also analyzed by experiment and simulation.Then,the thrust performance is also estimated when taking into account the intake performance.The results show that it is feasible to use atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion technology for CubeSats to compensate for aerodynamic drag at lower Earth orbit.