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Project No. 102

Image: ESA/Science Office
Image: ESA/Science Office

Ignition of green propellants using combined cold-catalytic plasma for sustainable space propulsion systems to keep low-earth orbits clean

Dr.-Ing. Henrike Jakob, Yonghun Lee
Technical University Darmstadt, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of Gas Turbines and Propulsion
 
Many CubeSats have no additional propulsion system and no de-orbit manoeuvre is available, resulting in an increase of space debris. This poses a significant and ongoing risk to astronauts, operational satellites, and future satellite missions. Thus, the necessity to develop compact propulsion systems for CubeSats to perform orbit corrections in case of a potential collision with existing space debris, or to perform targeted de-orbit manoeuvres at the end of the mission. This requires the development of flexible propulsion systems using non-toxic propellants to enable a sustainable space industry. This project will research and develop a new ignition technology especially, to achieve the ignition of green propellants for satellite propulsion using catalyst-combined cold plasma ignition.

Goal of the project

The main objective of the project is to get insights into the use of catalyst-combined cold plasma ignition for space propulsion systems using sustainable propellants. The following key aspects should be investigated in this study:

  • influence of catalyst materials on the propagation and intensity of the plasma
  • ignitability improvement by catalyst-combined cold plasma ignition under various operating and environmental conditions
  • required ignition energy for the catalyst-combined cold plasma ignition of green propellants for sustainable space propulsion systems
Project plan

The first step is to design and produce different configurations of catalyst-combined cold plasma ignition systems. The keyword in this step is small, miniaturised ignition systems with different electrode geometries. As a next step, the high voltage signal and adequate diagnostics should be provided for the study. This will include a parameter study of the electrode configurations under atmospheric and vacuum conditions. Based on the results of the parameter study, the optimised configurations will be implemented as an ignition system in a miniaturised combustion chamber. This allows to validate the ignitability of the ignition system in an actual combustion chamber. Finally, the efficiency of the catalyst-combined cold plasma ignition will be quantified.