Burton et al. (1982) have discussed the theory of the Pulsed Electrothermal (PET) thruster, a device which in principle can operate with 70 percent efficiency at a specific impulse of 1000 seconds and higher. It is pointed out that this level of performance would be particularly attractive for orbit raising of large satellites and other near-earth missions, which cannot be easily accomplished by chemical propulsion. The present investigation is concerned with two PET thruster operating modes. A PET thruster was built and tested on a thrust stand. Exhaust velocities for polyethylene propellant vary from 20 to 27 km/sec. Single pulse specific impulse and efficiency measurements based on ablated mass show a thruster efficiency of 37-56 percent in the time range from 1000 to 1750 seconds. It is believed that an improved design with a thruster efficiency in the range from 70 to 80 percent might be possible.


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    Title :

    Experimental investigation of the pulsed electrothermal (PET) thruster


    Contributors:

    Publication date :

    1984-06-01


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




    Experimental investigation of the pulsed electrothermal (PET) thruster

    BURTON, R. / GOLDSTEIN, S. / HIKO, B. et al. | AIAA | 1984


    Investigation of a pulsed electrothermal thruster system

    Burton, R. L. / Goldstein, S. A. / Hilko, B. K. et al. | NTRS | 1984


    Theory of the pulsed electrothermal thruster

    BURTON, R. / GOLDSTEIN, S. / TIDMAN, D. et al. | AIAA | 1982


    Initial development of a pulsed electrothermal thruster

    BURTON, RODNEY L. / WANG, SHIH-YING | AIAA | 1991


    Initial development of a pulsed electrothermal thruster

    Burton, Rodney L. / Wang, Shih-Ying | NTRS | 1991