Published date: Jun 02 2020

Journal Title: KnE Engineering

Issue title: International Congress on Engineering — Engineering for Evolution

Pages: 476–486

DOI: 10.18502/keg.v5i6.7063

Diogo Abranches diogo.abranches@hotmail.comUniversity of Beira Interior

Francisco BrojoUniversity of Beira Interior

One of the characteristics that ion thrusters are known for is its high efficiency.  In the process of designing an ion thruster the study of the magnetic field alongside the discharge chamber is crucial to achieve optimal efficiency. This work shows the importance of taking into consideration the materials in the vicinities of the magnets as well as the expected intensity of the magnetitic field inside the thrusters in study. The procedures used to study the magnetic field in the open software used are described in this work. The thruster in study is an oversizing done of a previous one, so the desired results are to obtain the ones obtained for the original engine.

Keywords: Ion thruster, High efficiency, Magnetic field

[1] “Mars Cube One (MarCO) Mission Overview,” 2018. [Online]. Available: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ cubesat/missions/marco.php.

[2] “Spacecraft Propulsion.” [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacecraft_propulsion. [3] “SERT-1.”.

[4] “Starlink (satellite constellation).” [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Starlink_(satellite_constellation).

[5] N. Standard and N. Nodis, “Propulsion Systems Types for Small Spacecraft: State of the Art,” 2015.

[6] EU_Commission, “TRL Scale,” no. 2014, p. 4995.

[7] D. M. Goebel and I. Katz, “Fundamentals of Electric Propulsion: Ion and Hall Thrusters,” Fundam. Electr. Propuls. Ion Hall Thrusters, pp. 1–507, 2008.

[8] M. Bondar, “THE CREATION, ANALYSIS, AND VERIFICATION OF A COMPREHENSIVE MODEL OF A MICRO ION THRUSTER,” 2015.

[9] M. David, “Finite Element Method Magnetics: ComputationalMagneticsLinks,” 2014.