Electrospray Thruster Plume Impingement on CubeSat Solar Arrays: A Particle-Tracking Study
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arXiv
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866917325524959232 |
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| author | Kahn, Ethan |
| author_facet | Kahn, Ethan |
| contents | Electrospray thrusters are emerging as a leading propulsion technology for CubeSats, offering high specific impulse ($I_{sp} > 1000$ s) and low power requirements. However, the divergent ion plumes can impinge on spacecraft surfaces, particularly body-mounted solar arrays, causing contamination and thrust efficiency losses. This study presents a validated particle-tracking simulation to quantify the effects of thruster placement on thrust efficiency and surface contamination for 1U, 3U, and 6U CubeSats. The plume model employs a cosine power distribution ($k=1.8$) with half-angle $46^\circ$, validated against experimental data with errors below 7%. Results show that thrust efficiency ranges from 53.6% for rear-mounted thrusters on 3U body-mounted configurations to 100% for side-mounted configurations with deployable arrays. CubeSat size significantly affects impingement: 3U platforms experience 46.4% contamination with rear-mounted thrusters compared to 16.6% for 1U. Deployable solar arrays reduce contamination by 77% compared to body-mounted arrays, while side-mounted thrusters eliminate impingement entirely at the cost of only 1.6% efficiency loss. Corner-mounted configurations at $30^\circ$ cant provide intermediate performance with 88.9% efficiency and 11.1% contamination. These quantitative design guidelines enable mission planners to optimize thruster integration based on power budget and propellant mass constraints, with statistical uncertainty below 0.15% across all configurations. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_05084 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Electrospray Thruster Plume Impingement on CubeSat Solar Arrays: A Particle-Tracking Study Kahn, Ethan Plasma Physics Electrospray thrusters are emerging as a leading propulsion technology for CubeSats, offering high specific impulse ($I_{sp} > 1000$ s) and low power requirements. However, the divergent ion plumes can impinge on spacecraft surfaces, particularly body-mounted solar arrays, causing contamination and thrust efficiency losses. This study presents a validated particle-tracking simulation to quantify the effects of thruster placement on thrust efficiency and surface contamination for 1U, 3U, and 6U CubeSats. The plume model employs a cosine power distribution ($k=1.8$) with half-angle $46^\circ$, validated against experimental data with errors below 7%. Results show that thrust efficiency ranges from 53.6% for rear-mounted thrusters on 3U body-mounted configurations to 100% for side-mounted configurations with deployable arrays. CubeSat size significantly affects impingement: 3U platforms experience 46.4% contamination with rear-mounted thrusters compared to 16.6% for 1U. Deployable solar arrays reduce contamination by 77% compared to body-mounted arrays, while side-mounted thrusters eliminate impingement entirely at the cost of only 1.6% efficiency loss. Corner-mounted configurations at $30^\circ$ cant provide intermediate performance with 88.9% efficiency and 11.1% contamination. These quantitative design guidelines enable mission planners to optimize thruster integration based on power budget and propellant mass constraints, with statistical uncertainty below 0.15% across all configurations. |
| title | Electrospray Thruster Plume Impingement on CubeSat Solar Arrays: A Particle-Tracking Study |
| topic | Plasma Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.05084 |