In recent years the interest of the space community for electric propulsion has been rising thanks to the advantages that this technology offers. To ensure a correct integration on the spacecraft, it is important to be able to predict the behavior of the plasma plume generated by the thruster. Such plume could in fact damage spacecraft surfaces, produce parasite torques, etc. In order to simulate a plasma with contained computational power, the most used method in literature is the Hybrid Particle In Cell method.
In this research, a model of a Hall Effect Thruster is developed starting from on-ground measurements of the plasma. The model is built for a Hybrid Particle In Cell software. In order to validate the capability of the software to predict in-orbit plasma plume, a comparison with three space mission’s set of data has been performed: Express-A, SMART1 and a satellite developed by OHB System. This thesis aims at proving that the Hybrid Particle In Cell software is capable of predicting the plasma plume reliably, given that this has been correctly set up. The research question leading the work is:
To which degree of precision can a hybrid particle-in-cell method as implemented by PICPluS predict in-orbit plume behavior when tuned with a nonempirical set of simulation parameters?
The thesis has been developed in cooperation with OHB System, a large system integrator leader in the sector, with proven experience in electric propulsion plasma plume simulation. The company provided supervision, all the hardware and software tools employed and an internal set of in-orbit data.