Unsteady, direct simulation Monte Carlo/particle-in-cell simulations of rocket plume expansions into the magnetosphere at geostationary Earth orbit are presented for three rocket thruster pulse durations: 0.1, 1.4, and 9.9 s. The chemical rocket thruster ejects hydrazine combustion products at a mass flow rate of , and the number densities is computed as a function of time for distances up to 35 km from the rocket thruster. The plume reaches steady-state operation 1 km downstream of the rocket thruster before the thruster is shut off at 1.4 s, and steady-state operation is reached as far as 20 km downstream of the rocket thruster for the 9.9 s pulse duration. An analytic expression for free molecular flow expanding into a vacuum is compared to the unsteady simulations for number densities and flow velocities, and the influences of energetic protons and electrons emitted from the sun on predicted total number densities are investigated.
Unsteady Simulations of Rocket Plume Expansions in Geostationary Earth Orbit
Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets ; 54 , 6 ; 1258-1266
2017-07-28
9 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
Unsteady Simulations of Rocket Plume Expansions in Geostationary Earth Orbit
Online Contents | 2017
|Unsteady Simulations of Rocket Plume Expansions in Geostationary Earth Orbit (AIAA 2016-5384)
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2016
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