Research & Development

Electric Propulsion Plasma Simulations

Electric propulsion thrusters gain increasing importance for both commercial applications as well as for scientific and interplanetary spacecraft due to their high specific impulse, thrust controllability and proven reliability. However, since such type of thrusters emit charged propellant, contamination due to collision processes inside the beam and influence on spacecraft charging is a serious issue. Specifically, low-energy charge-exchange ions which can be attracted by potentials on the spacecraft surface need to be well studied. Several three-dimensional Particle-In-Cell numerical models were developed to study Hall (SPT-100, PPS 1350), Ion (RIT-10 and T5) and Field Emission (Indium and Cesium FEEP) thrusters covering both high and low thrust electric propulsion systems.

Fig. 1 SPT-100 Hall Thruster Ion Density and Charge-Exchange Backflow Density; In-FEEP Cluster Ion Density for LISA Pathfinder

SMART-1 was Europe’s first mission to the moon and it demonstrated solar electric propulsion using the PPS 1350 Hall thruster. AIT was Co-Investigator on that mission responsible for the thruster-spacecraft interaction. We developed a state-of-the-art dedicated tool called SmartPIC that can model the spacecraft including solar arrays and the interaction with the thruster plume. In addition, virtual instruments can be added to simulate Langmuir probes and Retarding-Potential-Analysers (RPA). The details of the solar array including voltage distribution and interconnectors can be custom defined to get a very realistic behaviour of the satellite floating potential with respect to thruster operation.

SmartPIC was verified with both laboratory and SMART-1 in-flight data and showed good agreement also with the cyclic variations of SMART-1’s floating potential were induced from thruster operation.

Fig. 2 SMART-1 and the SmartPIC Simulation
Fig. 3 Detailed on the SmartPIC Solar Array Model

Recent Publications:

• Hilgers, A., Thiébault, B., Estublier, D., Gengembre, E., Gonzalez del Amo, J., Capacci, M., Roussel, J.-F., Tajmar, M., Forest, J., "A Simple Model of the Effect of Solar Array Orientation on SMART-1 Floating Potential", IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Vol. 34, No. 5, 2006, pp. 2159-2165
  
  
• Sedmik, R., Scharlemann, C., Tajmar, M., Gonzalez del Amo, J., Hilgers, A., Estublier, D., Noci, G., Capacci, M. and Koppel, C., "Numerical Simulation of the Interactions between Solar Arrays and the Surrounding Plasma Environment", International Electric Propulsion Conference, IEPC-214, 2005
  
  
• Gonzalez del Amo, J., Estublier, D., Koppel, C., Capacci, M., Tajmar, M., Passaro, A., "Spacecraft/Thrusters Interaction Analysis for SMART-1", International Electric Propulsion Conference, IEPC-003, 2005
  
  
• Tajmar, M., Scharlemann, C., Gonzalez, J., Estuiblier, D., Foing, B., Noci, G., and Capacci, M., "Influence of Solar Array on Floating Potential of SMART-1: Numerical Simulations", AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference, AIAA-2005-3859, 2005
  
  
• Tajmar, M., Meissl, W., Gonzalez, J., Foing, B., Laakso, H., Noci, G., Capacci, M., Mälkki, A., Schmidt, W., and Darnon, F., "Charge-Exchange Plasma Contamination on SMART-1: First Measurements and Model Verification", AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference, AIAA 2004-3437, 2004
  
  
• Tajmar, M., "Electric Propulsion Plasma Simulations and Influence on Spacecraft Charging", AIAA Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 39, No. 6, 2002, pp. 886-893
  
  
• Tajmar, M., Gonzalez, J., Saccoccia, G., Noci, G., and Laasko, H., "Plasma Diagnostics and Simulation for the SMART-1 Mission", Planetary and Space Science, Vol. 50, No. 14-15, pp. 1355-1360, 2002
  
  
• Tajmar, M., Gonzalez, J., and Hilgers, A., "Modelling of Spacecraft-Environment Interactions on SMART-1", AIAA Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 38, No. 3, 2001, pp. 393-399
  
  
• Tajmar, M., and Wang, J., "3D Numerical Simulation of Field-Emission-Electric-Propulsion Backflow Contamination", AIAA Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 38, No. 1, 2001, pp. 69-78
  
  
• Tajmar, M., and Wang, J., "3D Numerical Simulation of Field-Emission-Electric-Propulsion Neutralization", AIAA Journal of Propulsion and Power, Vol. 16, No. 3, 2000, pp. 536­544
  
  
• Tajmar, M., Rüdenauer, F., and Fehringer, M., "Backflow Contamination of Indium Liquid-Metal Ion Emitters (LMIE): Numerical Simulations", International Electric Propulsion Conference, IEPC-99-070, 1999
  
  
• Tajmar, M., Mitterauer, J., and Wang, J., "Field-Emission-Electric-Propulsion (FEEP) Plasma Modeling: 3D Full Particle Simulations", AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference, AIAA 99-2297, 1999
  
  
• Tajmar, M., Mitterauer, J., and Wang, J., "Field-Emission-Electric-Propulsion (FEEP) Plasma Modeling: 3D Full Particle Simulations", AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference, AIAA 99-2297, 1999