Propulsion in a broad sense is the act of changing the motion of a body where a reaction force is imparted to a device by the

momentum of ejected matter. Propulsion mechanisms provide a force that moves bodies that are initially at rest, changes a velocity, or overcomes retarding forces when a body is propelled through a medium.

The propellants, which are the working substance of rocket engines, constitute the fluid that undergoes chemical and thermodynamic changes. SOLID: Highest power outputs but easy to control . Lower burn times can be achieved
EXAMPLE:Nitrocellulose+Nitroglycerine

LIQUID: Higher power outputs ,relatively difficult to control in comparison with solid propellants. Higher burn times
EXAMPLE: Hydroxyl Ammonium Nitrate (NH2OH*NO3)

COLD GAS PROPELLANTS: They are simple ,low cost, used with pressurized feed systems, used for pulsing operations, and for low thrust and low total impulse. EXAMPLE: Liquid Oxygen+Liquid hydrogen

CHEMICAL PROPULSION
The energy from a high-pressure combustion reaction of propellant chemicals, usually a fuel and an oxidizing chemical, permits the heating of reaction product gases to very high temperatures (2500 to 4100C or 4500 to 7400F). These gases subsequently are expanded in a nozzle and accelerated to high velocities (1800 to 4300 m/sec or 5900 to 14,100 ft/sec). Since these gas temperatures are about twice the melting point of steel, it is necessary to cool or insulate all the surfaces that are exposed to the hot gases

Advantages: a) Very high values of thrust. Therefore they are used in the initial launch where the gravitational forces are very high. b) Very low burn time required for attaining definite acceleration. c) Temperature of the thrust chamber can be controlled easily Disadvantages: a) Large storage tank for fuel required 40% of the mass of the satellite is propellant . . b) Only the energy contained in the propellant can be used for acceleration thus only limited velocity is obtainable (about 4.5km/sec)
Application: 1. First stage and its upper stage propulsion systems add momentum during launch and ascent. 2. Orbit injection or transferring from one orbit to another.

SOLAR PROPULSION

Solar thermal rocket, uses large diameter optic mirrors to concentrate the sun's radiation (e.g. lightweight precise parabolic mirrors or Fresnel lenses) onto a receiver or optical cavity.

Fig 1.2 :. Simplified schematic diagram of a solar thermal rocket concept Advantages: a) High efficiency, b)No need of oxygen tanks so reduced weights c) Contamination is negligible,, Disadvantages: a) Since large lightweight optical elements cannot withstand drag forces without deformation, the optical systems are deployed outside the atmosphere. Application: They can be used in station keeping

NUCLEAR PROPULSION

Various nuclear energy sources have been investigated for delivering heat to a working fluid, usually liquid hydrogen, which subsequently can be expanded in a nozzle and thus accelerated to high ejection velocities (6000 to 10,000 m/sec). They are basically extensions of liquid propellant rocket engines. The heating of the fuel is accomplished by energy derived from transformations within the nuclei of atoms.

Fig 1.1 : The principle of nuclear thermal propulsion.

Advantages: a) Very high thrust values (about 40000N)

b) Considerably high exhaust velocities (6000 to 10,000 m/sec).

Disadvantages: a) The thrust chamber temperatures are extremely high and are difficult to cool b) There is a possibility of radiation leakage. C) Low efficiency
Application: Flight has not been confirmed yet but they can be used in first and upper stage propulsion and also for orbit injection.

ELECTRIC PROPULSION

Electric rocket propulsion devices use electrical energy for heating and/or directly ejecting propellant, utilizing an energy source that is independent of the propellant itself.
In all electric propulsion the source of the electric power (nuclear, solar radiation receivers, or batteries) is physically separate from the mechanism that produces the thrust. Electric rocket propulsion devices use electrical energy for heating and/or directly ejecting propellant, utilizing an energy source that is independent of the propellant itself. The thrust usually is low, typically 0.005 to 1 N. In order to allow a significant increase in the vehicle velocity, it is necessary to apply the low thrust and thus a small acceleration for a long time.

Advantages: a)Very high efficiencies(about 90%). b)Only 0.3% of the rocket is due to the fuel. c)Very high exhaust velocities d)Improve the rockets mass ratio significantly . Disadvantages: a)Very low thrust 0-1N(although this low thrust has been put to use in various types of maneuvers efficiently) b)Very high Burn times c) This type of propulsion has been handicapped by heavy and inefficient power sources

Application: a) Pitch correction of rocket b)These propulsion systems have been extensively used in station keeping

1.ELECTRIC PROPULSION SYSTEMS HAVE A VERY HIGH EFFICIENCY(about 90%).Whereas Chemical propulsion systems have a maximum efficiency of about 60%. 2.A very large Exhaust Velocity can be easily obtained by using Electrical Propulsion. Which is a major challenge in case of Chemical Propulsion as the exhaust velocity of only 4.5km/sec obtainable. This is possible due to formidable increase in the mass ratio. So for deep space missions Electrical propulsion systems is most suitable. 3.The effective thrust produced by an Electric propulsion system is very low. So it cannot be used in order to overcome high gravitational forces ,and hence can be employed only outside orbits of planets. But certain specific tasks performed by spacecraft such as docking, space vehicle manuvering etc are only possible due to low thrust of electric propulsion systems. 4.This propulsion systems can be used in applications where the burn time is very high .So they are employed where the mission time last for more than 10 years.

ENGINE TYPE

Propulsive efficiency

INPUT CURRENT Is (A)

EXHAUST VELOCITY

POWER INPUT

0.50 Chemical rocket Nuclear fission 0.50 0.50

30 80 60

2940 7840 5880

29.4 kW 78.7kW 58.8Kw

Solar
Ion electrostatic

0.90

200

10,600

195.9Kw

Here we can see that electric propulsion systems have a very high efficiency as compared to other system. Moreover the exhaust velocities are very high so velocity increment is very high which is primary characteristic for deep space missions

The basic subsystems of a typical electric propulsion thruster are: (1) An energy source (2)Conversion devices to transform this energy into electrical form at the proper voltage, frequency, pulse rate, and current suitable for the Electrical propulsion System . 3)Electric Propulsion system .

1.Energy sources: Batteries Fuel Cells Solar Cell Arrays Long-Duration High-Output Dynamic System 2.Power-Conditioning Equipment
Modern conditioning equipment contains all the internal logic required to start, safely operate, and stop the thruster; it is controlled by on-off commands sent by the spacecraft-vehicles and rockets control processor .In fact, advances in solid-state electronic pulse circuits together with lighter, more efficient, and higher temperature power-conditioning hardware are an area of great interest to the implementation of electric propulsion units. The efficiency of the equipment tends to be high, about 90% or more, but the heat generated is at a low temperature and must removed to maintain the required moderately low temperatures of operation

Types of Electric Propulsion systems

CLASSIFICATION
1. Electro thermal. Propellant is heated electrically and expanded thermodynamically; i.e., the gas is accelerated to supersonic speeds through a nozzle, as in the chemical rocket. 2. Electromagnetic. Acceleration is achieved by the interaction of electric and magnetic fields within a plasma. Moderately dense plasmas are high temperature or non equilibrium gases, electrically neutral and reasonably good conductors of electricity.

Electro thermal thrusters

The basic electrothermal thruster, or `resisto-jet', consists of a nozzle with a high expansion ratio, connected to a chamber in which the propellant is heated by a hot wire through which passes an electric current. This type of electric thruster uses the same thermodynamic effects to generate a high-velocity exhaust stream as does a chemical rocket.

Fig: The Schematic of Resistojet Propulsion System

The propellant is heated by flowing over an ohmically heated refractory-metal surface, such as (1) coils of heated wire, (2) through heated hollow tubes, (3) over heated knife blades, and (4) over heated cylinders

Power requirements range between 1 W and several kilowatts; a broad range of terminal voltages, AC or DC, can be designed for, and there are no special requirements for power conditioning
The system using liquid propellants has the advantage of being compact and the catalytic decomposition preheats the mixed gases to about 700C (1400F) prior to their being heated electrically to an even higher temperature; this reduces the required electric power while taking advantage of a well-proven space chemical propulsion concept

Thruster efficiencies of resistojets range between 65 and 85%, depending on the propellant and the exhaust gas temperature,

They are most attractive for low to modest levels of mission velocity increments, where power limit ,thrusting times, and plume effects are mission drivers.

Arcjet

Fig 2.3 :The schematic of an arc jet

Arcjet overcomes the gas temperature limitations of the resistojet by the use of an electric arc for direct heating of the propellant stream to temperatures much higher than the wall temperatures. The arc stretches between the tip of a central cathode and an anode, which is part of the coaxial nozzle that accelerates the heated propellant For electrical (but not thermal) insulation, boron nitride has been used effectively. In reality, arcs are highly filamentary and tend to heat only a small portion of the flowing gas unless the throat dimension is sufficiently

The conduction of electricity through a gas requires that a certain level of ionization be present. This ionization must be obtained from an electrical discharge, i.e., the breakdown of the cold propellant

Specific performance characteristics of arc jets Steady thrust Feed pressure Power control unit (PCU) input 222-258 mN 185-330pa 4.4 kW

PCU efficiency Dimensions; Arcjet

93% 237 x 125 x 91

PCU Mass: Arcjet and cable PCU

-632x361

x 109

6.3 kg 15.8 kg

Arcjets, however, are potentially more scalable to large thrust levels than other electric propulsion systems Arcjets have another disadvantage in that the required power processing units are somewhat more complex than those for resistojets, due to the complexity of arc phenomena. The life of an arcjet can be severely limited by local electrode erosion and vaporization, which is specifically due to action of the arc attachment point and of the high operating temperatures in general.

Electromagnetic thrusters:
Electrostatic thrusters rely on Coulomb forces to accelerate a propellant composed of nonneutral charged particles. They can operate only in a near vacuum. The electric force depends only on the charge, and all charged particles must be of the same "sign" if they are to move in the same direction. Electrons are easy to produce and are readily accelerated, but they are as extremely light in mass as to be impractical for electric propulsion. Thus, the thrust per unit area that can be imparted to such an electron flow remains negligible even when the effective exhaust velocity or specific impulse gets to be very high. Accordingly, electrostatic thrusters use charged heavy-molecular-mass atoms as positive ions (a proton is 1840 times heavier than the electron and a typical ion of interest contains hundreds of protons)
In terms of power sources and transmission equipment, the use of the heavier particles contributes to more desirable characteristics for electrostatic thrusters--for example, high voltages and low currents.

FIG 2.4 Simplified schematic diagram of an electron bombardment ion thruster,

The electrostatic (or Coulomb) force and the electromagnetic (or Lorentz) force can be used to accelerate a suitable propellant to speeds
The microscopic vector force Fe on a singly charged particle can be written as Fe = eE + e(Ve B)

Where e is the electron charge magnitude, E the electric field vector, Ve the velocity of the charged particle, and B the magnetic field vector. The exhaust velocity is a function of the voltage Vacc imposed across the accelerating chamber or grids, the mass of the charged particle and its electrical charge e

Ionization Schemes.
Electric Bombardment
To a great extent, the ionization chamber is responsible for most of the size, mass, and perhaps efficiency of these devices. Ionization of a gas by electron bombardment is a well-established technology. Electrons are emitted from a thermionic (hot) cathode or the more efficient hollow cathode and are forced to interact with the gaseous propellant flow in a suitable ionization chamber. The chamber pressures are low, typically 10 -3 torr or 0.134 Pa Emitted electrons are attracted toward the cylindrical anode but are forced by the axial magnetic field to spiral in the chamber, causing numerous collisions with propellant atoms which lead to ionization. A radial electric field removes the electrons from the chamber and an axial electric field moves the ions toward the accelerator grids.

Radiofrequency
Most high power hence high thrust systems use electrodes, of one kind or another, to generate the current in the gas that provides the ions and hence the thrust. These always erode in the discharge, being worse for high power systems. Several attempts have been made to increase the power input by using radiowaves to provide the internal energy source . The process here begins with the gas, hydrogen and helium mixed, being exposed to the electromagnetic radiation from an RF antenna that ionises most of the atoms. It then passes into a cavity with strong magnetic fields, where it is excited by a high-power RFgenerator resonance here gives avery high efficiency of power transfer from the RF field to the gas. Two aspects of the exhaust beam are non-thrust producing: one is the aforementioned ionization energy contained in the beam and the other one is any vector divergence present which results in beam spreading. Beam spreading, or the radial velocity component of

beams, can result from causes both upstream and downstream of the exit Proper neutralization of the beam reduces this spreading, allowing nearly axial velocities.

How the Electric Propulsion system is started: Step1:The sensing element (Transducers) for determining the attitude, velocity, and position of the vehicle with respect to a
reference direction at any one time convert the parameter in electrical signals and sends it to a microcontroller Step2:The microcontroller analyses the input and checks it with the reference input received from ground station by microwaves or pre programmed value of the parameter. Step3:The Power conditioning equipment converts the power from source to desired values.and triggers the propulsion system . Step4:The servo orifice valve opens and the propellant reaches the Electric Propulsion system. The input to an electro-hydraulic (EH) servo valve is typically a current or a differential current that powers an electromagnetic torque motor. The differential current i is typically supplied by an amplifier to avoid excess loading of the interface to the computer or controller. In the simplest)form, the torque motor moves a spool valve as shown below. The spool valve allows the hydraulic fluid to pass from the supply to the return across two variable metering orifices with a controlled flow rate Q L. If the spool is shifted in the other direction the direction of flow will reverse.

Fig :Schematic of an Electro Hydraulic Valve

Step5:The electric Propulsion system gets fully operational and thrusts the vehicle in the desired direction

FIG:Space craft with thruster for Velocity vector adjustment Velocity vector adjustment and minor in-flight correction maneuvers are usually performed with low thrust, short duration and intermittent (pulsing) operations, using a Propulsion control system with multiple small liquid propellant thrusters, both for translation and rotation. The vernier rockets on a ballistic missile are used to accurately calibrate the terminal velocity vector for improved target accuracy. The reaction control rocket systems in a space launch vehicle will allow accurate orbit injection adjustment maneuvers after it is placed into orbit by another, less accurate propulsion system. Mid-course guidance-directed correction maneuvers for the trajectories of deep space vehicles fall also into this category.

Deep Space Lunar and interplanetary missions include circumnavigation, landing, and return flights to the moon, Venus, Mars, and other planets. The energy necessary to escape from earth can be calculated as M . It is 6.26 x 107j/kg, which is more than that required for a satellite. Such high Energy are only possible because Electric Propulsion System has the exhaust velocities in the range of 10000m/sec

Low Earth orbit to geostationary orbit raising The required velocity increment for an elliptical transfer to geo stationary altitude and circularisation of the orbit is theoretically 4.2km/s. To this should be added the gravity losses associated with the continuous burning of the electric propulsion system, which is of the order 1km/s, producing a total of 5.2km/s for this mission. This is 10 times the station keeping requirement. It should also be carried out in a reasonable length of time, so may be expected to be more demanding of the thrusters. As a comparison chemical thruster we can consider a bi-propellant engine using UDMH and nitrogen tetroxide. It has an exhaust velocity of 3,160m/s in vacuum requiring a propellant fraction of 80% For the ion engine the propellant fraction is 16%, and so the use of electric propulsion can potentially save about 80% of the propellant. Note that the higher exhaust velocity of the ion engine has a much bigger e ffect for this mission..

Station keeping
Here a typical satellite will carry suffi cient control propellant to produce a total velocity increment of 500m/s for station keeping. If this is provided by hydrazine thrusters with an exhaust velocity of 1,000m/s, the ratio of propellant mass to total vehicle mass is 0.39; 40% of the mass of the satellite is propellant. If an Ion thruster with an exhaust velocity of 10km/s is used, then the propellant is only 3.3% of the total mass of the satellite, and more than 90% of the propellant mass can therefore be saved. This reduces launch costs (at $20,00030,000 per kg), or allows a larger Satellite to be launched for the same cost.