Starting modes of multidirectional electrodeless plasma thruster with closed-ring-shaped gas discharge chamber

The efficient operations of orbital satellite constellations require propulsion systems capable of continuously performing maneuvers. These maneuvers include not only the orbit phasing, the altitude alterations and the attitude control, but also collision-avoidance and deorbiting maneuvers. These maneuvers require the generation of thrust in multiple directions. The thrust-vectoring capability can be achieved by changing the spacecraft orientation beforehand. However, this approach may lead to inefficient propellant management. Another approach to control the thrust vector direction is the use of propulsion systems with thrust-vectoring capability. One of such propulsion systems is the thruster with close ring-shaped gas discharge chamber providing capability to generate thrust in two and more directions. Such geometry of the gas discharge chamber requires the thorough studies. In this work, the starting modes of the thruster with close ring-shaped gas discharge chamber utilizing krypton and argon are studied. It has been established that the presence of a toroidal magnetic field decreases the ignition thresholds of RF discharge by 32.4%. It is found that the energy consumed for discharge ignition in multichannel gas discharge chambers can be based on their geometry. Under certain configurations of the external magnetic field, a decrease in the discharge ignition thresholds is observed due to magnetized electrons circulation in-and-out of the gas discharge chamber.