Plasma Diagnostics for Applications in Space Propulsion
Abstract
The single largest stumbling block in the present endeavor to explore
space is the simple dollar-per-pound cost necessary to put spacecraft in
orbit. While many initiatives to design better, faster, cheaper rockets and
lifting bodies are already underway, Earth to orbit costs are being further
reduced by the replacement of chemical reaction control systems with
electric and plasma propulsion systems. While working as an intern at the
University of Alabama in Huntsville's Propulsion Research Center
Advanced Propulsion Lab, I assisted in the application of three plasma
diagnostic techniques toward the development of new concepts in electric
propulsion for space vehicles.