Thrust efficiency optimization of the pulsed plasma thruster SIMP-LEX

The effect of electric parameters on the thrust efficiency of an ablative pulsed plasma thruster was studied. Analytically, it was shown that a higher efficiency can be obtained by increasing energy of a bank of capacitors. This can be achieved by changing the inductance per distance of the plasma sheet, or reducing the resistance of the circuit and the mass bit. Further, an optimum discharge time was found when the capacitance and the inductance were varied. A low initial inductance increases the thrust efficiency. Experimentally, these trends can be verified by comparing two thrusters: SIMP-LEX and ADD SIMP-LEX, with their different initial inductances. For ADD SIMP-LEX, the optimal thrust efficiency for different capacities was determined to be 31% at 60μF for a 17 J configuration.