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Fundamentals of the Plasma Sail Concept: MHD and Kinetic StudiesThe Mini-Magnetospheric Plasma Propulsion (M2P2), originally proposed by Winglee et al. [2000] predicts that a 15-km standoff distance (or 20-km cross-sectional dimension) of the magnetic bubble will provide for sufficient momentum transfer from the solar wind to accelerate a spacecraft to the unprecedented speeds of 50-80 km/s after an acceleration period of about three months. Such velocities will enable travel out of the solar system in period of about seven years-almost an order of magnitude improvement over present chemical based propulsion systems. However, for the parameters of the simulation of Winglee et al. [2000], a fluid model for the interaction of M2P2 with the solar wind is not valid. It is assumed in the MHD fluid model, normally applied to planetary magnetospheres, that the characteristic scale-size is much greater than the Larmor radius and ion skin depth of the solar wind. In the case of M2P2, the size of the magnetic bubble is actually less than or, comparable to, the scale of these characteristic parameters. Therefore, a kinetic approach, which addresses the small-scale physical mechanisms, must be used. We have adopted a two-component approach to determining a preliminary estimate of the momentum transfer to the plasma sail. The first component is a self-consistent MHD simulation of the small-scale expansion phase of the magnetic bubble. The fluid treatment is valid to roughly 5 km from the source and the steady-state MHD solution at the 5 km boundary was then used as initial conditions for the hybrid simulation. The hybrid simulations showed that the momentum transfer to the innermost regions of the plasma sail is negligible.
Document ID
20030066145
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Khazanov, G.
(National Space Science and Technology Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Delamere, P.
(Colorado Univ. CO, United States)
Kabin, K.
(Alberta Univ. Canada)
Linde, T. J.
(Chicago Univ. Chicago, IL, United States)
Krivorutsky, E.
(Alabama Univ. Huntsville, AL, United States)
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2003
Subject Category
Plasma Physics
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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