Charge tracing for determining electrical facility effects on electric spacecraft propulsion systems.

Author

Tyler Bye, Western Michigan UniversityFollow

Date of Defense

4-20-2021

Date of Graduation

4-2022

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

First Advisor

Kristina Lemmer

Second Advisor

Bade Shrestha

Abstract

Electric Propulsion Systems are the future of deep space travel. Since its design in 2016 Western Michigan University has been testing a Hall-Thruster from a previous Senior Design Group. One issue with Electric Propulsion Systems is tracing where the electrons go after being used to ionize propellant for spacecraft acceleration. Induced magnetic fields on Earth alter the electron paths found in the vacuum of space.

One solution is the EP TEMPEST. The EP TEMPEST is an electron tracer designed by the Air Force Research Laboratory. The goal of this project is to design an electron tracer like the EP TEMPEST but on a smaller scale.

The design of an electron tracer would consist of the use of SolidWorks to create a visual model of the electron tracer and COMSOL Multiphysics® to simulate the conditions within the electron tracer while a thruster is running. 1

Comments

Co-authored with Joseph Backe

Recommended Citation

Bye, Tyler, "Charge tracing for determining electrical facility effects on electric spacecraft propulsion systems." (2021). Honors Theses. 3520.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses/3520

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Open Access