NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Specific Impulse of Electric Solid Propellant in an Electrothermal Ablation-Fed Pulsed Plasma ThrusterElectric solid propellants are advanced solid chemical rocket propellants that can be controlled (ignited, throttled, and extinguished) through the application and removal of an electric current. Recent work has focused on application of this propellant in an electrothermal ablation-fed pulsed plasma thruster. In this paper, impulse bit measurements in such devices fed by either the electric solid propellant or a traditional state-of-the-art propellant, polytetrafluoroethylene, are expanded upon. It is demonstrated that a surface layer in the hygroscopic electric solid propellant is rapidly ablated over the first few discharges of the device, which correspondingly decreases specific impulse relative to the traditional polytetrafluoroethylene propellant. Correcting these data by subtracting the early discharge ablation mass loss measurements yields a corrected electric solid propellant specific impulse of approximately 300 s. As the test duration increases to a large number of discharges, and the initial mass loss is a reduced fraction of the total, the effect of absorbed water in the propellant is decreased and the specific impulse without any corrections approaches the corrected 300 s value.
Document ID
20190032379
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Glascock, Matthew S.
(Missouri Univ. of Science and Technology Rolla, MO, United States)
Rovey, Joshua L.
(Illinois Univ. at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL, United States)
Polzin, Kurt A.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Date Acquired
October 30, 2019
Publication Date
September 15, 2019
Subject Category
Spacecraft Propulsion And Power
Report/Patent Number
M19-7603
Meeting Information
Meeting: International Electric Propulsion Conference
Location: Vienna
Country: Austria
Start Date: September 15, 2019
End Date: September 20, 2019
Sponsors: FOTEC Forschungs- und Technologietransfer GmbH
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX15AP31H
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
No Preview Available