Engineering Journal: Science and InnovationELECTRONIC SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING PUBLICATION
Certificate of Registration Media number Эл #ФС77-53688 of 17 April 2013. ISSN 2308-6033. DOI 10.18698/2308-6033
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Article

Analysis of the performance of electrodynamic tethers with autonomous electron generation

Published: 09.08.2020

Authors: Bechasnov P.M.

Published in issue: #8(104)/2020

DOI: 10.18698/2308-6033-2020-8-2010

Category: Aviation and Rocket-Space Engineering | Chapter: Innovation Technologies of Aerospace Engineering

Currently, electric rocket engines have largely reached the efficiency limits determined by the principle of rocket thrust. Electrodynamic tethers, interacting with an external magnetic field and actually being jet engines, are devoid of such restrictions. However, their thrust is limited by the concentration of the external plasma and depends on its fluctuations. The paper is the first to propose to create a current in the tether by propellant ionization, receiving a large thrust from a relatively short tether and a strong magnetic field deflecting charged cosmic particles. The numerical analysis showed that the length of the tether of hundreds of meters near the Earth provides a specific impulse of up to hundreds of kilometers per second and its proper acceleration of the power plant at a level of 0.01 m / s2, as well as protection of the central region of the tether from particles with an energy of more than 1 MeV. This makes it possible to consider it for maneuvering satellites with practically no restrictions on the delta-V, for performing fast high-energy inter-orbital flights and for radiation protection of a high-latitude orbital station. In the future, such a tether can be used for rapid deceleration of orbital objects, launching into geostationary orbit, interplanetary transfers and protection of objects from charged particles. The study describes possible areas of application and directions for further research of the concept of such a tether.


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