Title :
A Plasma Railgun Experiment Addressing Launch-to-Space Issues
Author :
Stefani, F. ; McNab, I.R. ; Parker, J.V. ; Alonzo, M. ; Klatt, T.
Author_Institution :
Inst. for Adv. Technol., Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX
Abstract :
The Institute for Advanced Technology has recently been awarded a grant by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research to undertake research in the area of hypervelocity, plasma-driven electromagnetic launch. This paper describes our technical approach to achieving 7 km/s at accelerations that are lower than typical for plasma launchers. Our approach to managing plasma restrike and secondary arc formation is to reduce the emission of ablated materials into the gun bore through the use of augmentation and ceramic sidewalls. In addition, preinjection to 1 km/s is used to provide an initial velocity for the launch package while introducing minimal dense cold gas, since such gas can also contribute to restrike. This paper describes the hardware that is being put in place for this experiment
Keywords :
ceramics; plasma guns; railguns; ablated material emission; augmentation; ceramic sidewalls; cold gas; gun bore; hardware; hypervelocity; plasma railgun; plasma restrike; plasma-driven electromagnetic launch; secondary arc formation; Acceleration; Boring; Ceramics; Electromagnetic forces; Electromagnetic launching; Plasma accelerators; Plasma applications; Plasma density; Plasma materials processing; Railguns; Plasma railgun;
Journal_Title :
Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TMAG.2006.887451
