Mass acceleration by plasma pulses

Experiments were carried out to obtain preliminary information about the efficiency of plasma-pulse accelerators (PPA) at velocities of about 3 km/s. The PPA absorbs energy from an electric circuit and converts it into kinetic energy of the mass to be accelerated. In order to study the process of energy absorption from the electric circuits, experiments with a high-pressure gas-discharge device were performed. At a system efficiency of 8.7%, a 3.4 g mass was accelerated to 2840 m/s. A first-order approach to simulating the experiments is described. The results confirm that the design of the discharge tube has a strong influence on the energy absorption process. Several discharge tubes were investigated, and an efficient tube design was selected for acceleration experiments in the PPA. Besides forced energy absorption by strong interaction of the arc with the narrow tube walls, additional powder and inner electrode of aluminum caused effective propellant generation during the arcing process. This intensified the acceleration process, so that the PPA velocity potential could be increased to nearly 3.0 km/s