Unsteady Simulations of Rocket Plume Expansions in Geostationary Earth Orbit

作者：Weaver Andrew B^*; Boyd Iain D

来源：Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, 2017, 54(6): 1258-1266.

DOI：10.2514/1.A33838

Unsteady, direct simulation Monte Carlo/particle-in-cell simulations of rocket plume expansions into the magnetosphere at geostationary Earth orbit are presented for three rocket thruster pulse durations: 0.1, 1.4, and 9.9s. The chemical rocket thruster ejects hydrazine combustion products at a mass flow rate of 4.5x10-4kg/s, and the number densities is computed as a function of time for distances up to 35km from the rocket thruster. The plume reaches steady-state operation 1km downstream of the rocket thruster before the thruster is shut off at 1.4s, and steady-state operation is reached as far as 20km downstream of the rocket thruster for the 9.9s pulse duration. An analytic expression for free molecular flow expanding into a vacuum is compared to the unsteady simulations for number densities and flow velocities, and the influences of energetic protons and electrons emitted from the sun on predicted total number densities are investigated.

• 出版日期2017-11