Electromagnetic Steering of Sodium-Seeded Rocket Thrust Plumes: Design & Analysis

This paper explores the use of the Lorentz force to magnetically steer a rocket engine’s thrust plume, creating an off-axis thrust component. The perpendicular force component thus generated, for the sample design used is estimated at 0.002% without sodium seeding, and 3.5% with said seeding. The design of a prototype thruster is undertaken, burning gaseous propane and oxygen, resulting in a combustion chamber, expansion nozzle, and a magnetic circuit to drive the Lorentz steering force. While the predicted unseeded effect is too small to be useful, sodium seeding may be viable on small vehicles or satellites where minimizing overall system complexity is benefited by eliminating otherwise separate attitude control systems.

Name thesis:degree_name

Bachelor

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Gershon, Levi

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Hart, Douglas

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
• Copyright retained by author(s)

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/150153

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/150153