Plasma Particle Simulation of Electrostatic ion thrusters

Xiaohang Peng* and Dennis Keefert University of Tennessee Space Institute,

Tullahoma, Tennessee 37388 and Wilhelmus M. Ruytent University of
TennesseeCalspan Center for Space Transportation and Applied Research,
Tullahoma, Tennessee 37388

In this article, the author writes about the erosion of accelerator grids. Being
that this was one of my main primary ideas about propelling plasma
particles, I found that this would be important. In the article, the author
writes that utilizing the PIC method of coding provides an efficient way to
calculate the ion dynamics for arbitrary thruster geometries, and should give
similar results as other computational methods. Below is a diagram of how
these accelerator grids appear, not only to the computer, but in design as
well.

His results show that as the kinetic

energy increases, the sputtering rate
increases significantly (1 atom is
very significant):
Although this article dealt mostly
with determining a method for
plasma simulation, the results have
been consistent with actual trials
and can be deemed an accurate
approximation. The author
acknowledged that a number of

refinements to this model are required before quantitative agreements with

new experiments can be expected.