Flyer Acceleration by Pulsed Ion Beam Ablation and Application for Space Propulsion

Journal Article · Wed Feb 04 00:00:00 EST 2004 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1649694· OSTI ID:20632860

Harada, Nobuhiro; Buttapeng, Chainarong; Yazawa, Masaru ^[1]; Kashine, Kenji ^[2]; Weihua, Jiang; Yatsui, Kiyoshi ^[3]

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1. Department of Electrical Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, 1603 Kamitomioka, Nagaoka 940-2188 (Japan)
2. Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Kagoshima National College of Technology, 1460-1 Shinko, Hayato-cho, Aira-gun, Kagoshima 899-5193 (Japan)
3. Extreme Energy Density Research Institute, Nagaoka University of Technology, 1603 Kamitomioka, Nagaoka 940-2188 (Japan)

Flyer acceleration by ablation plasma pressure produced by irradiation of intense pulsed ion beam has been studied. Acceleration process including expansion of ablation plasma was simulated based on fluid model. And interaction between incident pulsed ion beam and a flyer target was considered as accounting stopping power of it. In experiments, we used ETIGO-II intense pulsed ion beam generator with two kinds of diodes; 1) Magnetically Insulated Diode (MID, power densities of <100 J/cm2) and 2) Spherical-focused Plasma Focus Diode (SPFD, power densities of up to 4.3 kJ/cm2). Numerical results of accelerated flyer velocity agreed well with measured one over wide range of incident ion beam energy density. Flyer velocity of 5.6 km/s and ablation plasma pressure of 15 GPa was demonstrated by the present experiments. Acceleration of double-layer target consists of gold/aluminum was studied. For adequate layer thickness, such a flyer target could be much more accelerated than a single layer. Effect of waveform of ion beam was also examined. Parabolic waveform could accelerate more efficiently than rectangular waveform. Applicability of ablation propulsion was discussed. Specific impulse of 7000{approx}8000 seconds and time averaged thrust of up to 5000{approx}6000N can be expected. Their values can be controllable by changing power density of incident ion beam and pulse duration.

• OSTI ID: 20632860
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 699, Issue 1; Conference: STAIF 2004: 21. symposium on space nuclear power and propulsion: Human space exploration, space colonization, new frontiers and future concepts, Albuquerque, NM (United States), 8-11 Feb 2004; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.1649694; (c) 2004 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
ABLATION
ACCELERATION
ALUMINIUM
ENERGY DENSITY
GOLD
ION BEAMS
LAYERS
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
PLASMA
PLASMA EXPANSION
PLASMA FOCUS
PLASMA PRESSURE
POWER DENSITY
PRESSURE RANGE GIGA PA
PROPULSION
PULSES
SPACE VEHICLES
SPHERICAL CONFIGURATION
STOPPING POWER
USES
WAVE FORMS