Thrust Measurement of Pure Magnetic Sail

Abstract

A Pure Magnetic Sail is a deep space propulsion system consisting of a coil mounted on a spacecraft. In order to predict the thrust characteristics of a Pure Magnetic Sail in space, thrust measurement and magnetic field measurement were conducted using a scale model in a laboratory. To simulate the solar wind, a magnetoplasmadynamic arcjet provides a high density (2×10¹⁹ m^-3) and high velocity (47 km/s) plasma flow that impinges on a 20-turn 25-mm-radius coil simulating a Pure Magnetic Sail. When the magnetic cavity size of the scale model (L) is increased from 0.12 to 0.17 m, the thrust increases from 0.47 to 0.92 N. Scaling up, this experiment corresponds to a 300-km diameter Pure Magnetic Sail in space. The thrust also depends on the coil tilt angle, which is the angle between the direction of the solar wind flow and the coil axis. The maximum thrust of 1.5 N is obtained for a tilt angle of 90 degrees.