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DEVELOPMENT OF THE TWO-STAGE MICRO PULSED PLASMA THRUSTER by John Schilling ________________________________________________________ A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE VITERBI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (ASTRONAUTICAL ENGINEERING) May 2007 Copyright 2007 John Schilling
Object Description
Title | Development of the two-stage micro pulsed plasma thruster |
Author | Schilling, John |
Author email | schillin@usc.edu |
Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
Document type | Dissertation |
Degree program | Astronautical Engineering |
School | Viterbi School of Engineering |
Date defended/completed | 2006-11-14 |
Date submitted | 2007 |
Restricted until | Unrestricted |
Date published | 2007-02-14 |
Advisor (committee chair) | Erwin, Daniel A. |
Advisor (committee member) |
Muntz, Eric Phillip Kunc, Joseph A. Gundersen, Martin A. Katsouleas, Thomas |
Abstract | In this dissertation, the development of the two-stage micro pulsed plasma thruster (uPPT) is described. This development followed from a research effort aimed at overcoming crippling performance limitations of the conventional PPT. Several fundamental causes of this performance shortfall were identified, and attempts to overcome them were uniformly unsuccessful. Furthermore, a trade study of other micropropulsion systems suggested that even an improved conventional PPT would find little use.; However, previous work had suggested that the conventional PPT could be greatly reduced in size and complexity, and the same mission-specific trade study indicated that a micro PPT would be quite useful even if of limited performance. Previous testbed uPPTs, operating in an actively triggered mode, were laboratory curiosities of little practical value. The two-stage uPPT, with triggering performed in a separate stage, passively coupled to the main discharge, greatly simplifies the device while allowing a much larger propellant loadout and total propulsive impulse. A complete three-axis thruster module with 25 N-s of impulse along each axis, can be constructed from off-the-shelf components with a total mass of less than one kilogram.; The two-stage uPPT was developed and extensively tested, proving to be a robust, reliable system with sufficient performance for near-term missions. Several avenues for further improvement were identified. A flight uPPT has been constructed, representing the current state of the art in this area, and will fly on the USAF FalconSat-3 spacecraft in early 2007. |
Keyword | micro PPT; pulsed plasma thruster |
Language | English |
Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
Type | texts |
Legacy record ID | usctheses-m249 |
Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
Rights | Schilling, John |
Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
Filename | etd-Schilling-20070214 |
Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume26/etd-Schilling-20070214.pdf |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
Full text | DEVELOPMENT OF THE TWO-STAGE MICRO PULSED PLASMA THRUSTER by John Schilling ________________________________________________________ A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE VITERBI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (ASTRONAUTICAL ENGINEERING) May 2007 Copyright 2007 John Schilling |