A Fiber-fed Pulsed Plasma Thruster (FPPT) utilizes a motor to feed PTFE fiber to its discharge region, enabling high PPT propellant throughput and variable exposed fuel area. A highly parallel ceramic capacitor bank lowers system specific mass. Impulse bits (I-bits) from 0.057-0.241 mN-s have been measured on a thrust stand with a specific impulse (Isp) of 900-2400 s, representing an enhancement from state-of-the-art PPT technology. A 1 U (10 cm×10 cm×10 cm, or 1 liter) volume FPPT thruster package will provide 2900-7700 N-s total impulse, enabling 0.6-1.6 km/s delta-V for a 5 kg CubeSat. A 1 U design variation with 590 g propellant enables as much as .sup.˜10,000 N-s and a delta-V of 2 km/s for a 5 kg CubeSat. Increasing the form factor to 2U increases propellant mass to 1.4 kg and delta-V to 10.7 km/s for an 8 kg CubeSat.

A method and apparatus uses a VLF transmitter, a VLF receiver, and/or a low earth orbit satellite including a rocket engine. A VLF wave transmitted into space is converted to an ambient wave. The ambient wave acts as a signal wave for a whistler traveling wave parametric amplifier. Rocket exhaust is generated in atmospheric plasma. The rocket exhaust includes kinetic energy acting as a Lower Hybrid wave source. The Lower Hybrid wave source produces a Lower Hybrid wave, which acts as a pump wave for the parametric amplifier. Nonlinear mixing of the signal wave and the pump wave in the atmospheric plasma simultaneously parametrically amplifies the ambient wave and generates an idler wave and a parametrically amplified wave. The parametrically amplified wave (1) reduces the density of energetic protons or killer electrons in the Van Allen radiation belt, and (2) improves communications between the VLF transmitter and VLF receiver.

A micro-cathode arc propulsion system. By replacing an inductive circuit in a traditional micro-cathode arc propulsion system with a capacitor circuit, the stability of the operation of a micro-cathode arc thruster can be improved due to the stable discharging mode of the capacitor, and as the internal resistance of the capacitor is small during operation, the additional power consumption of the circuit is reduced, and the efficiency of the system is improved. In addition, as a pulse power supply is used to power in a pulse manner, the average power inputted into the micro-cathode arc thruster is greatly reduced.

Electroaerodynamic devices and their methods of operation are disclosed. In one embodiment, ions are formed by dielectric barrier discharge using a time varying voltage differential applied between a first electrode and a second electrode. The ions are then accelerated in a downstream direction using a second voltage differential applied between a third electrode and the first and/or second electrodes, where the third electrode is located down stream from the first and second electrodes. The ions may then collide with naturally charged molecules and/or atoms within a fluid to accelerate the fluid in the downstream to create an ionic wind and an associated thrust.

The present disclosure provides a thruster device. The device includes a force-generating element mounted to a housing. The element is configured to generate a thrust force for propelling the housing. The element including a first electrode connected to a first input terminal of a power source. A second electrode is spaced apart by a predetermined distance from the first electrode and connected to a second input terminal of the power source. The second electrode includes a second longitudinal axis oriented parallelly to a first longitudinal axis. A dielectric medium is disposed between the electrodes. Upon receiving field emission condition, charged particles available at the first electrode accelerate towards the second electrode for generating a thrust force along a direction of movement of the charged particles. The thrust force is generated when the predetermined distance between the electrodes is shorter than a Rindler horizon defined by the charged particles during acceleration.

A rectifying device includes an air flow generator. The air flow generator is disposed at an exterior member of a vehicle. The exterior member is adjacent to a detector of a sensor that is disposed such that at least a portion of a detection range of the detector includes a rear region behind a plane in a traveling direction of the vehicle. The plane is parallel to a width direction and a vertical direction of the vehicle. The air flow generator is configured to generate an air flow that separates, from the detector of the sensor, travelling wind that accompanies travel of the vehicle. The air flow generator includes a plasma actuator that includes at least a pair of electrodes and a power source that is configured to apply an alternating current voltage to the electrodes.

An impedance measurement circuit includes a signal injector having a voltage input and a voltage output, a controllable switch, and a voltage drop device connected in parallel with the controllable switch between the voltage input and the voltage output. The voltage output is connected to a load. A voltage sensor is configured to measure a voltage across the load. A current sensor is configured to measure a current draw of the load. A computing device is configured to determine an impedance of the load at a frequency based on the measured voltage and the measured current. The computing device controls the switch based on the frequency.

A structure for preventing an electric discharge between devices without any need for a dedicated device when mounted on an artificial satellite is provided. A charging mitigation device for reducing a potential difference between two or more physical objects includes an electric thruster (100) configured to generate plasma (PL), wherein the two or more physical objects are covered with the plasma (PL) generated from the electric thruster (100).

According to certain aspects, an electric-propulsion thruster is used as part of a base or platform which also includes a power converter, having a plurality of inductors and other electrical components, and a printed circuit board (PCB). The PCB includes a layer at which the other electrical components and printed circuit inductor traces, for the plurality of inductors, are secured. The electric-propulsion thruster includes a housing (e.g., as part of the base or platform) providing a cavity and having at least one structurally-rigid side wall along the cavity, where the PCB is integrated with the electric-propulsion thruster for a compact arrangement which can be used to propel the apparatus. Such a compact design might be used as an important part of thruster spacecraft architecture such as micro-satellites (e.g., CubeSats).

A pulsed metal plasma thruster (MPT) cube has a plurality of thrusters, each having a first cathode electrode and a trigger electrode separated from the first electrode by an insulator sufficient to support an initiation plasma, and a porous anode electrode positioned a separation distance from the face of all of the cathode electrodes. The cathode electrode can be either the inner electrode or the outer electrode. A power supply delivers a high voltage pulse to the trigger electrode with respect to the cathode electrode sufficient to initiate a plasma on the surface of the insulator. The plasma transfers between the anode electrode and cathode electrode of selected thrusters, thereby generating a pulse of thrust.