Design of a cusped field plasma thruster

A plasma space propulsion thruster has been designed. It is classified as a Cusped Field Thruster (CFT), which refers to the geometry of the magnetic field that influences the flow of electrons and ions. The thruster was modeled after an original Diverging Cusped Field Thruster (DCFT) developed at MIT's Space Propulsion Laboratory. There are several improvements (including a flat downstream separatrix) that are aimed at increasing performance. In general, plasma thrusters have applications in satellite trajectory adjustment and deep space probes because of their superior fuel efficiency compared to chemical thrusters.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Conte, Joseph Richard, III

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Paulo Lozano.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/72841

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/72841