An atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion system uses the rarefied atmospheric molecules as the propellant for the electric thruster. In the best case, it can allow spacecraft complete a long-time mission in the lower Earth orbit without carrying any propellant. In this article, the intake geometry is designed, analysed and optimized to improve the performance of atmospheric particles capture, including collection efficiency and compression ratio. The orthogonal method is used in the simulation test to analyse the sensitivities of main parameters, including the configuration of grid ducts, the configuration of tapered chamber, the length-to-diameter ratio of tapered chamber and the diameter of tube. The results show that the performance of air-intake can be optimized with different parameter combinations. Compared with different intake designs of previous studies, the optimal design in this article shows the better particle capture performance under the same boundary conditions. The particles compression ratio is over 100, and the collection efficiency can reach 81.08%.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Optimization investigation of vacuum air-intake for atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion system


    Contributors:
    Zheng, Peng (author) / Wu, Jianjun (author) / Zhang, Yu (author) / Wu, Biqi (author)


    Publication date :

    2022-06-01


    Size :

    16 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




    Characterization Analysis of Intake Device for Atmosphere-Breathing Electric Propulsion

    Yi, Minwoo / Choi, Hyunjin / Park, Kangmin et al. | AIAA | 2025


    Design of an intake and a thruster for an atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion system

    Romano, F. / Herdrich, G. / Chan, Y.-a. et al. | BASE | 2022

    Free access

    Titan 'Atmosphere' Breathing Propulsion

    Stewart, Mark / Palac, Donald | AIAA | 2007


    INTAKE SYSTEM FOR AN ATMOSPHERE BREATHING ELECTRIC THRUSTER, SPACECRAFT

    QUANG DAMIEN LE / ALSALIHI ZUHEYR / PARODI PIETRO | European Patent Office | 2021

    Free access

    Intake Design for Air-Breathing Electric Propulsion: A Framework

    Raisanen, Astrid / Faust, Adriane / Taylor, Jeff et al. | AIAA | 2025