Manish Kumar Mishra
Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Trivandrum, 695547, India
Kartikey Sharma
Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Trivandrum, 695547, India
Pranav Nath
Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Trivandrum, 695547, India
Deepak Kumar Agarwal
ISRO
As humanity seeks to reach the stars, the development of
advanced high power and high-efficiency propulsion systems is
a priority for the space community. Among the various concepts
that are being explored globally, one that shows great promise
is the RF driven plasma engine. It employs radio frequency
(RF) waves in presence of an axial magnetic field to generate
high-density plasma which can then be accelerated to high
velocities leading to high specific impulse systems.
The present study concerns with theoretical modeling of the
helicon plasma discharge. The work here deals with modeling
the helicon plasma based on the theory proposed by Arnush and
Chen, in their two-part paper 'Generalized theory of Helicon
waves', [1], and [2]. The description of waves in a constant density plasma with no antenna coupling is reproduced here with a more elaborate mathematical description. Subsequently, antenna coupling with the plasma is considered and methodology to estimate antenna parameters is presented. Typical values for parameters involved are considered for illustration of the methodology.