Abstract
Impulse generation experiments of a liquid propellant laser thruster were conducted using glycerin propellants in the energy range of 60mJ–60J. Momentum coupling coefficients and specific impulses were obtained from impulse and propellant mass measurements. The maximum specific impulse was 18s at the laser beam energy of 55J. Experimental data were scaled in terms of energy and the radius of the glycerin droplet to extrapolate laser thruster performance. The results indicate that the radius of the glycerin droplet must be less than 0.24 mm in these experiments to achieve specific impulse more than 1,000s that will be required to compete with other space propulsion systems.
