Plasmas and Space Propulsion Team (EP²)

🚨Call for papers on advanced electric propulsion concepts❗ We seek experimental, numerical, and theoretical submissions for the special issue "Alternative Electric Propulsion Configurations" of the Journal of Electric Propulsion. 📍 Co-edited by professors Mario Merino Martínez and Justin Little ⏰ Deadline January 31st, 2025 More infomation in the post below 👇 Looking forward to everyone's submission! #CallForPapers #SpecialIssue #ElectricPropulsion

Xenon or atmospheric air? 🤔 2024’s final highlight is another example of international collaboration leading to innovation. Our newest publication, a study of an air-breathing electrodeless plasma thruster discharge, results from Dr. Jiewei Zhou’s one-year research stay at ISTP-CNR, Italy. This pioneering study performs simulations implementing a multi-dimensional plasma model and key air molecular chemistry parameters on these novel thrusters. The analysis was conducted using the EP2 hybrid axisymmetric code HYPHEN. The performances of nitrogen and oxygen mixtures and the plasma response are characterized under different operation regimes against those of xenon. Our results show that at high powers, air propellants can be competitive compared with xenon. 🤝 Jiewei extends his warmest thanks to Dr. Francesco Taccogna and the rest of the team at ISPT for hosting him. Their extensive expertise in complex plasma chemistry, crucial for characterizing alternative propellants of interest, were pivotal to contribute to this novel concept at its very early stages. 📌 A study of an air-breathing electrodeless plasma thruster discharge 🖋️ J. Zhou, F. Taccogna, Pablo Fajardo and EDUARDO AHEDO 📑 Propulsion and Power Research 💡 Funded by the European Commission, through the H2020 project HIPATIA (GA870542), and Agencia Estatal de Investigación/ERDF, through the project SUPERLEO (TED2021-132484B-I00). 🔓 https://lnkd.in/dKwEU4ja project (TED2021-132484B-I00). #OpenAccess #ElectricPropulsion #airbreathing #thrusters Aerospace Engineering UC3M

Continuing with our highlights of 2024, we present to you a collaboration with Luis Chacón from Los Alamos National Laboratory: our seminal publication on Implicit PIC algorithms 👨💻 The work introduces a new Implicit Particle in Cell algorithm in a paraxial Magnetic Nozzle geometry and generalizes a novel particle mover in mapped meshes with strict conservation of total energy and local charge. The algorithm showcases a remarkable performance gain compared to conventional algorithms, with comparable or superior accuracy. 🤩 We are excited about this international collaboration with the US, consolidated during the research stay of Pedro Jiménez, PhD in Los Alamos for his PhD. Now a postdoc in our lab, he keeps refining and advancing this research line! 📌An implicit, conservative electrostatic particle-in-cell algorithm for paraxial magnetic nozzles 🖋️P. Jiménez, L. Chacón, Mario Merino Martínez 📑Journal of Computational Physics 🔓https://lnkd.in/dYA5Em4N 💡funded from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon H2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 950466) #ResearchCollaboration #ComputationalPhysics #ElectricPropulsion #OpenAccess Aerospace Engineering UC3M UC3M - PhD Program in Aerospace Engineering

🎄To wrap up 2024, we recap the standouts of this year's publications. Our first highlight is the result of our collaboration with the ICARE lab at CNRS regarding our lab's first low-power cylindrical Hall thruster prototype! In the paper, we present the characterization of the thruster's far-plume using electrostatic diagnostics. We delve into the impact of various operating conditions on plasma generation and acceleration, shedding light on how input parameters affect the discharge behavior. Finally, a preliminary assessment of the propulsive performance is performed. Joining forces with our colleagues gave us access to more facilities and equipment, resulting in a comprehensive and well-rounded characterization. A big thank you to Stéphane MAZOUFFRE and Alfio Vinci for exchanging expertise and equipment with us! 📌 Far-field plume characterization of a low-power cylindrical Hall thruster 🖋️Tatiana Perrotin, A. E. Vinci, S. Mazouffre, Pablo Fajardo, EDUARDO AHEDO, Jaume Navarro Cavallé 📑Journal of Applied Physics AIP Publishing 💡Funded by Agencia Estatal de Investigación, through the ESPEOS (PID2019-108034RB-I00) and COMIT (PDC2021-120911-I00) projects. 🔓 https://ow.ly/lfwM50Uu8I4 #ElectricPropulsion #diagnostics #PlasmaPhysics #collaboration #OpenAccess Aerospace Engineering UC3M UC3M - PhD Program in Aerospace Engineering

✨ Overcoming computational demands of kinetic simulations with our 2D particle-in-cell code, PICASO ✨ Our postdoc, Alberto Marín Cebrián, presented an overview of the PICASO code and its application in addressing key plasma physics challenges for space propulsion systems. Long-standing problems, such as anomalous transport, plasma-wall interaction and collisionless electron cooling in plumes are being researched using this simulation platform. PICASO is a 2D particle-in-cell (PIC) code developed by EP2. The main advantage of the PIC formulation is that, being kinetic, it does not make any assumption on the shape of the species velocity distribution function, which tends to be non-Maxwellian in weakly collisional plasmas. Therefore, it is capable to self-consistently compute magnitudes that are difficult to correctly characterize in classical fluid models (i.e. pressure tensor, heat flux vector and wall interaction parameters). While kinetic simulations offer invaluable insights into plasma behavior, they also imply a large computational cost. Our goal is to determine which effects are relevant, paving the way for the development of reduced models that are capable to incorporate kinetic information in faster fluid formulations. #PlasmaPhysics #kinetics #simulations #PIC

Professor Pablo Fajardo presented an analysis of trends in the space sector last week. The report is a tool that helps us anticipate challenges ahead, guiding policies and mitigating risks. You can find the reports from all members of the Space Observatories that form part of #Isdefe's #RedHorizontes here 👉 https://lnkd.in/dHQ9-TPS

🛰 Space has become a crucial domain, where satellites play a vital role in communication, navigation, and intelligence. From supporting everyday technologies to enhancing military capabilities, the growing reliance on space systems is shaping the future of #defence and #security. Last week, Warsaw, Poland, became the hub of innovation and collaboration in space defence. From 26 to 28 November, the 6th CapTech Space Industry Workshop and Meeting, hosted by the Polish Ministry of National Defence and Łukasiewicz - ILOT, and led by the European Defence Agency (EDA), brought together over 120 experts from governments, research organizations, academia, and industry across Europe. EDA, boosting R&T collaboration in the crossroad between space and defence, facilitated discussions that focused on the 2025 Project Portfolio, which includes 11 collaborative initiatives worth €57M, co-funded by Member States, with three projects already launched and eight under development. Participants also explored updates on the #HEDI proof-of-concept prototype for Very Low Earth Orbit (#VLEO) satellite systems, the joint EDA-SatCen study on Digital Twins for Security & Defence, and the ongoing CapTech Space CAT-b project “Autonomous Space-based Situational Awareness and Artificial Intelligence” (#ASSAI), dealing with the application of Artificial Intelligence to improve Space Situational Awareness (#SSA). The meetings included a presentation from the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) about their activities related to space defence. ➡️Learn more about EDA’s CapTech Space: https://lnkd.in/dpjH84RV #EUdefence #EUSSSD #EUDefenceIndustry #space

When studying plasma-electromagnetic wave interactions, we hit a roadblock: intensive computational requirements. Our postdoc Pedro Jiménez, PhD Jimenez is developing a method to bypass the limitations of traditional fully kinetic electromagnetic algorithms 🔎 💡 Using an energy-conserving electromagnetic particle-in-cell method we not only address these numerical limitations, but we also achieve order-of-magnitude reductions in both computational time and energy consumption. Our 1D magnetic nozzle simulation paves the way toward multidimensional models of next-generation electrodeless thrusters such as Helicon and ECRT. This work deepens our understanding of the underlying fundamental physical mechanisms and guides the development and fine-tuning of reduced models. What are your thoughts about our approach? Feel free to share them in the comments ⬇️ Figures: Electromagnetic wave propagation and absorption at the electron cyclotron resonance surface (ECR) [left]. Electron temperature increase near the resonance due to wave heating [right]. #ElectricPropulsion #PICcode #ElectrodelessThrusters We acknowledge funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon H2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 950466)

We keep expanding our experimental capabilities! 🛠 We are setting up a new medium-sized vacuum chamber with a robotic arm integration, and our EP2 ECR thruster is now equipped with an innovative propellant injector. Our postdoc, Marco Inchingolo, presented to us the latest simulation results on plasma-wave coupling in the EP2 ECR thruster. These results pave the way for upcoming experiments aimed at validating the findings and ultimately enhancing waveguide ECR thruster performance. We are excited for the new research lying ahead, stay tuned for more updates!

🎓 Congratulations to our newest Doctor, Davide Maddaloni 🚀 The evaluation committee awarded his thesis "Investigation of oscillations in space plasma thrusters via data-driven analysis techniques" with Excellent - Sobresaliente. We wish the best to Davide for his next career steps, and extend a big thank you to Dr. Sara Correyero Plaza, Federico Petronio, and Mirko Magarotto, members of the committe. 📌 Davide's thesis was supervised by Mario Merino Martínez and Filipo Terragni, as part of the UC3M - PhD Program in Aerospace Engineering. We acknowledge financial support by Comunidad de Madrid under the Multiannual Agreement with UC3M in the context of the MARETERRA project, and by the project ZARATHUSTRA, funded from European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 950466). #PhDone #ElectricPropulsion #NewDoctor #PlasmaThrusters