Quantitative Evaluation of the Impulse-bit Generated in a Magnetic Thrust Chamber

Abstract

A magnetic thrust chamber is a component of a propulsion system which obtain thrust from a plasma in using a magnetic field. A laser fusion rocket has been assumed to use this system and will be used for interplanetary flight. To realize this rocket, we need to investigate the thrust performance of the magnetic thrust chamber. Previous work has investigated the plasma behaviour and thrust using simulations and experiments. However, quantitative comparison has not been much. In this work, we quantitatively compared computational and experimental results of plasma behaviour and performance. It was observed that the impulse bit increases as the magnetic field strength however, results from the experiment were approximately 3 times larger than that of simulation.