HIGH PERFORMANCE, VARIABLE POWER AMMONIA ARCJET

AN AGGRESSIVE ARCJET CONFIGURATION OPTIMIZATION PROGRAM IS PROPOSED TO DESIGN A HIGH PERFORMANCE, VARIABLE POWER AMMONIA ARCJET. A NOVEL TEST BED ARCJET AND MODULAR NOZZLE DESIGN APPROACH IS PROPOSED TO ALLOW LOW COST OPERATION AND TEST EVALUATION OF EXOTIC ARCJET NOZZLE CONFIGURATIONS. SIMPLE, BUT MEANINGFUL ARCJET PLUME DIAGNOSTICS ARE PROPOSED TO UNAMBIGUOUSLY IDENTIFY KEY VARIABLE POWER ARCJET DESIGN PARAMETERS. SUCCESSFUL EARTH ORBIT SPACE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY WILL NEED TO OFFER MORE PAYLOAD TRANSFER CAPABILITY AND SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER ORBIT TRANSFER VEHICLE COSTS. EFFICIENT, HIGH SPECIFIC IMPULSE ELECTRIC PROPULSION SYSTEMS OFFER THE MEANS TO ACHIEVE THESE SPACE TRANSPORTATION GOALS.