TITLE:
Diagnostics of Air-Breathing Electric Thrusters
AUTHORS:
Constantinos Stavrinidis, José Gonzalez del Amo, Chloe Berenguer, Konstantinos Katsonis
KEYWORDS:
Diagnostics, Low Earth Orbit, Electric Thrusters, Air-Breathing, Spectroscopy
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of Engineering and Technology,
Vol.3 No.3C,
October
22,
2015
ABSTRACT: Air-Breathing Electric Thrusters (ABET)
diagnostics is addressed, with on-ground prototypes in mind. It is based on
detailed volume averaged Global Models and focuses on emission spectroscopy.
Notably, the obtained optical emission spectroscopy diagnostics tools give
important information about the thruster propellant constitution and also the
ionization degree of each constituent. This allows for trade-off between
various prototypes on the basis of their characterization and optimization.