HPH.com Project
Helicon Plasma Hyrazine. COmbined Micro

The project

Current electric propulsion technology is based on families of thrusters able to cope efficiently with different mission profiles, however they are not versatile enough to allow a unique propulsion system technology for the entire mission.

Helicon-source based plasma thrusters promises to be a very versatile family of system, able to be adapted to very differnet mission configurations with a substantial reduction in costs and increase in reliability. However their development is mainly confined in the US and in Japan, moreover, whether helicon plasma source have been proved to be very efficient, their foundamental-physic-mechanisms need still to be investigated.

Objective of this research program is to significantly improve knowledge on helicon-based plasma thruster through deep numerical/theoretical investigation and extensive experimental campaign, then to apply it to the design, optimization and development of a space plasma thruster. The thruster will be specifically conceived to be used on board a mini-satellite for attitude and position control in order to allow low-cost demonstration-mission. Finally to further increase versatility of this system, much further with respect to standard electric thruster, a detailed feasibility study will be also conducted to evaluate the possibility of using the plasmas to heat and or decompose a secondary propellant, in order to develop a two mode system, high-efficiency low-thrust plasma-thruster mode and a low-efficiency high-trust secondary-propellant-plasma-enhanced mode. Only the plasma thruster will be developed and tested at full scale during this study.

Project main phases

The program will develop thought the following steps:

• Deep numerical-theoretical investigation through dedicated plasma-simulation tools.
• Extensive experimental campaign to validate codes, to investigate the physics phenomena involved and to proof thruster performance.
• The development of a full-scale thruster-prototype to be mounted on board of a mini-satellite to demonstrate technology feasibility,
• The study of all the critical issues related to the application to a mini-satellite
• The design and manufacturing of the mini-satellite mock up including all criticalcomponents
• Analysis of scaling law to lower and higher power.

As a final result of the project, a detailed analysis will be conducted in order to evaluate the possible application of the thruster in space missions requiring low-thrust accurate-attitude and position control.

Science and Technology Objective

The main science and technology objective are:

• To set-up and develop an innovative, highly integrated wave-particle code to explore into detail the behaviour of an helicon radio frequency source and to allow source design and optimization for propulsion concept.
• To develop a ground testing experiment equipped with a full set of instruments allowing for a very detailed characterization of physical aspects within the plasma, to validate codes and to verify the thruster design.
• To design and test a plasma thruster based on helicon technology.
• To analyze and design a booster section of the thruster based on a conventional monopropellant thruster on which the monopropellant is heated by plasmas (directly or by mean of suitable heat exchanger) instead of catalytic bed.
• To build up mock-ups of most critical mini-satellite-subsystems to proof that this technology can be mounted onboard of a mini satellite to achieve space qualification.
• To explore applications to innovative mission scenarios and ordinary industries

Key features of the research program

Key features of this research program are mainly based on: (i) a deep integrated numerical-experimental approach, achieved through continuous interaction among theoretical analysis and experimental investigation, (ii) detailed diagnostic set-up to deeply characterize physical features within the thruster, (iii) the development of mock-ups to proof the actual space applicability of the whole selected concept particularly to mini satellites.