SBIR-STTR Award

New England Space Works proposes a more efficient RF plasma electric thruster. RF plasma thrusters have many advantages over other electric propulsion types. Specific impulse is higher than for electrothermal thrusters. There are no electrodes or grids in contact with the plasma, so thruster lifetime should be better than other schemes. The simple plasma geometry leads to easy scaling to larger or smaller thrusters. Power densities can be much higher than for electrostatic ion thrusters (greater than a factor of 100) because there is no space charge limit on density. In spite of these advantages, RF plasma thrusters have not come into use in electric propulsion because of poor measured efficiency in tests. New England Space Works proposes an innovation to the RF plasma thruster which should greatly increase its efficiency.

Keywords:
Electric Propulsion rf Plasma Thruster ion Thruster