Hall Thruster Swirl Torque Measurements – Penn State Behrend
INSTITUTION
Penn State Behrend
CLASS
Nickel Class (2020 – 2021)
STUDENT TEAM
Braden Moze, Mechanical Engineering
Alexis Griesacker, Mechanical Engineering
Ethan Fontana, Mechanical Engineering
Jack Kline, Mechanical Engineering
SCIENTIFIC & TECHNICAL GUIDANCE
Dr. Jason Frieman, NASA Glenn Research Center
ACADEMIC GUIDANCE
Brian Lani, Lecturer, Mechanical Engineering, Penn State Behrend
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Psyche spacecraft will rely on a type of electric propulsion known as Hall thrusters in order to propel itself from Earth to the Psyche asteroid. Although these thrusters are super-efficient, they do impart a small amount of undesirable rotation or torque on the spacecraft that has to be counteracted by other systems. Due to the small magnitude of these imparted torques, they are very difficult to measure during ground testing, which hinders the ability of engineers to accurately estimate their impact on the spacecraft during its mission. The student team will design a method of measuring swirl torques during ground tests of Hall thrusters. In addition to documenting the design process (including trade studies, requirements, etc.), final deliverables will include: a high-fidelity CAD package of the proposed solution, simulations of the proposed solution using physics-based modeling software (e.g., COMSOL, ANSYS, etc.), detailed visualizations of the proposed concept, or other similar computer-based products.