A new type of plasma rocket engine, the Kabila rocket, using a radioisotope heated thermionic heating chamber instead of a conventional combustion chamber or catalyst bed is intro- duced and it achieves specific impul...A new type of plasma rocket engine, the Kabila rocket, using a radioisotope heated thermionic heating chamber instead of a conventional combustion chamber or catalyst bed is intro- duced and it achieves specific impulses similar to the ones of conventional solid and bipropellant rockets. Curium-244 is chosen as a radioisotope heat source and a thermal reductive layer is also used to obtain precise thermionic emissions. The self-sufficiency principle is applied by simultane- ously heating up the emitting material with the radioisotope decay heat and by powering the differ- ent valves of the plasma rocket engine with the same radioisotope decay heat using a radioisotope thermoelectric generator. This rocket engine is then benchmarked against a 1 N hydrazine thruster configuration operated on one of the Pleiades-HR-1 constellation spacecraft. A maximal specific impulse and power saving of respectively 529 s and 32% are achieved with helium as propellant. Its advantages are its power saving capability, high specific impulses and simultaneous ease of storage and restart. It can however be extremely voluminous and potentially hazardous. The Kabila rocket is found to bring great benefits to the existing spacecraft and further research should optimize its geometric characteristics and investigate the physical principals of its operation.展开更多
基金supported by Beijing Colleges and Universities Youth Talent Project (YETP1129)
文摘A new type of plasma rocket engine, the Kabila rocket, using a radioisotope heated thermionic heating chamber instead of a conventional combustion chamber or catalyst bed is intro- duced and it achieves specific impulses similar to the ones of conventional solid and bipropellant rockets. Curium-244 is chosen as a radioisotope heat source and a thermal reductive layer is also used to obtain precise thermionic emissions. The self-sufficiency principle is applied by simultane- ously heating up the emitting material with the radioisotope decay heat and by powering the differ- ent valves of the plasma rocket engine with the same radioisotope decay heat using a radioisotope thermoelectric generator. This rocket engine is then benchmarked against a 1 N hydrazine thruster configuration operated on one of the Pleiades-HR-1 constellation spacecraft. A maximal specific impulse and power saving of respectively 529 s and 32% are achieved with helium as propellant. Its advantages are its power saving capability, high specific impulses and simultaneous ease of storage and restart. It can however be extremely voluminous and potentially hazardous. The Kabila rocket is found to bring great benefits to the existing spacecraft and further research should optimize its geometric characteristics and investigate the physical principals of its operation.
