Characteristics of an electron-beam rocket pellet accelerator

A proof-of-principle electron-beam pellet accelerator has been developed and used for accelerating hydrogen and deuterium pellets. An intact hydrogen pellet was accelerated to a speed of 460 m/s by an electron beam of 13.5 keV, 0.3 A, and 2 ms. The maximum speed is limited by the acceleration path length (0.4 m) and pellet integrity. Experimental data have been collected for several hundred hydrogen pellets, which were accelerated by electron beams with parameters of voltage up to 16 kV, current up to 0.4 A, and pulse length up to 10 ms. Preliminary results reveal that the measured burn velocity increases roughly with the square of the beam voltage, as the theoretical model predicts. The final pellet velocity is proportional to the exhaust velocity, which increases with the beam power. To reach the high exhaust velocity needed for accelerating pellets to >1000 m/s, a new electron gun, with its cathode indirectly heated by a graphic heater and an electron beam, is being developed to increase beam current and power. A rocket casing or shell around the pellet has been designed and developed to increase pellet strength and improve the electron-rocket coupling efficiency. The characteristics of this pellet accelerator, including new improvements, are presented