Electrodeless plasma thruster

The electrodeless plasma thruster is a spacecraft propulsion engine commercialized under the acronym "E-IMPAcT" for "Electrodeless-Ionization Magnetized Ponderomotive Acceleration Thruster". It was created by Gregory Emsellem, based on technology developed by French Atomic Energy Commission scientist Dr Richard Geller and Dr. Terenzio Consoli, for high speed plasma beam production. The electrodeless plasma thruster is currently being developed and adapted to various spacecraft propulsion needs by The Elwing Company.The Elwing Company was founded in 2002 by Gregory Emsellem. Propellant is injected at the upstream side of the thruster body. In cases where the propellant used is not gaseous (e.g., alkali metals) at the local temperature, the propellant must be vaporized. Gaseous propellant is ionized by one of the following methods: bombarding the propellant with electrons emitted by a hot cathode or by an electron gun. a steady state electrical discharge between two electrodes. applying an alternating electric field either via a capacitive discharge or an inductive discharge or even a helicon discharge. electromagnetic waves of various frequency from radio frequency up to gamma rays, which is especially useful for solid propellant in which case the propellant can be simultaneously vaporized and ionized by a laser impulse. As the ionization stage is subjected to a steady magnetic field, the ionization process can use one of the numerous resonances existing in magnetized plasma, such as ion cyclotron resonance (ICR), electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) or lower hybrid oscillation, to produce a high density cold plasma. The cold and dense plasma, produced by the ionization stage, then drifts toward the acceleration stage by diffusion across a region of higher magnetic field intensity. In the acceleration stage the propellant plasma is accelerated by magnetized ponderomotive force in an area where both non-uniform static magnetic fields and non-uniform high-frequency electromagnetic fields are applied simultaneously.

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Electrodeless plasma thruster

Spacecraft electric propulsion

Spacecraft electric propulsion (or just electric propulsion) is a type of spacecraft propulsion technique that uses electrostatic or electromagnetic fields to accelerate mass to high speed and thus generate thrust to modify the velocity of a spacecraft in orbit. The propulsion system is controlled by power electronics. Electric thrusters typically use much less propellant than chemical rockets because they have a higher exhaust speed (operate at a higher specific impulse) than chemical rockets.

Plasma propulsion engine

A plasma propulsion engine is a type of electric propulsion that generates thrust from a quasi-neutral plasma. This is in contrast with ion thruster engines, which generate thrust through extracting an ion current from the plasma source, which is then accelerated to high velocities using grids/anodes. These exist in many forms (see electric propulsion). However, in the scientific literature, the term "plasma thruster" sometimes encompasses thrusters usually designated as "ion engines".

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