PIT What it is PIT Pulsed Inductive Thruster

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PIT – What it is • • PIT - Pulsed Inductive Thruster Nu. PIT

PIT – What it is • • PIT - Pulsed Inductive Thruster Nu. PIT – Nuclear Pulsed Inductive Plasma Step after the grided ion thruster Advantage: No Electrode – No electrode means that constant pulsing of the plasma will not lead to erroded electrode – This leads to longer run time of the thruster • Radiation is main source of damage to inductive coil

Why we care • • Longer life than electrode thruster Higher Specific Impulses (2000

Why we care • • Longer life than electrode thruster Higher Specific Impulses (2000 – 5000 s) Efficiencies up to 50% (relatively fixed) Why I care? – Attracted to this due to passion for NEP and this seemed to be an advancement on the standard Ion Thruster

Origins & How it works • Not sure of Origin – Perhaps comes after

Origins & How it works • Not sure of Origin – Perhaps comes after ion thruster • How it works – Pulsed plasma uses Lorentz force to throw ions – Gas usually used is ammonia – Explain the following diagrams to describe the ionization and discharge of the plasma

Diagram style

Diagram style

Future Prospects • Attractive for deep space missions due to efficiency at delivering payloads

Future Prospects • Attractive for deep space missions due to efficiency at delivering payloads • Has yet to fly in space • Certain requirements for this tech to be attractive – Specific mass ~ 1 kg / k. W – PITs are heavy and power hungry – Need capacitors to recharge in 5 to 10 ms to satisfy this

References • • • Kurt A. Pulzin, Scaling and Systems Considerations in Pulsed Inductive

References • • • Kurt A. Pulzin, Scaling and Systems Considerations in Pulsed Inductive Thrusters, NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center, USA, Presented 17 -20 September 2007 Dailey and Lovberg, The PIT Mk. V Pulsed Inductive Thruster, NASA-Lewis Research Center, USA, July 1993 Frisbee and Mikellides, The Nuclear-Electric Pulsed Inductive Thruster (Nu. PIT): Mission Analysis for Prometheus, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, USA, 10 -13 July 2005 Pavlos G. Mikellides, Pulsed Inductive Thruster (PIT): Modeling and Validation Using the MACH 2 Code, NASA-Glenn Research Center, USA, 17 -21 March 2003 “High-Power Electromagnetic Thruster Being Developed. ” Online. Available: http: //www. grc. nasa. gov/WWW/RT/RT 2001/5000/5430 lapointe. html 9 March 2008