Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Limited

Nagoya University

Akihiro Sasoh

Takuya Yamazaki

Hirofumi Shimizu

Shigeru Yokota

Shota Harada

Teruaki Baba

Keisuke Mizutani

Tomoji Iwasaki

Masaaki Yasui

Akira Iwakawa

Daisuke Ichihara

Satoshi Fujiwara

Matsutaka Sasahara

Plasma which is supplied from a supply passage () is accelerated with a Hall electric field (E) which is generated through interaction of electrons (e) emitted from a cathode (), a radial direction magnetic field (Bd), and an electric field (Ex).

Plasma accelerating apparatus and plasma accelerating method

A plasma accelerating apparatus includes: a cathode () configured to supply electrons to a plasma acceleration region; an anode (); a power supply () configured to apply a voltage between the cathode and the anode; a supply port () arranged on an outer circumference side of the cathode to supply a propellant to the plasma acceleration region; and a first magnetic field generator () configured to generate a first axial direction magnetic field in the upstream side region of the plasma acceleration region to suppress electrons supplied from the cathode from heading for the anode. Thus, the plasma accelerating apparatus and the plasma accelerating method having high thrust efficiency is provided.

Electrodeless plasma is supplied to a space between a cathode and an anode such that a resistivity in the space is reduced. The electrodeless plasma is accelerated with Lorentz force induced by a radial direction magnetic field component and an axial direction magnetic field component that are generated in the space, and current in the space.

MPD thruster that accelerates electrodeless plasma and electrodeless plasma accelerating method using MPD thruster

Growing community of inventors

Aichi, Japan

Akihiro Sasoh