Performance characteristics of low-power laser ablative thrusters for small satellites

In a laser ablative thruster, laser is irradiated to some solid propellant; it is ablated, and then produced small powders and/or gas particles with high energy are expanded resulting in thrust generation. In this study, a Q-switch Nd:YAG laser with a wavelength of 1064 nm and an output energy of 0.65 J was irradiated to polymer propellants to examine performance characteristics of laser ablative thrusters for small satellites. Impulse bit and mass loss were measured. As polymer propellants, PTFE, PTFE(carbon: 10mass%), PTFE(carbon: 15mass%), POM, POM(carbon: 20mass%), PE and PVC were selected. The performance characteristics mainly depended on specific weight and carbon concentration of polymer propellant. PTFE(carbon: 10mass%) and POM(carbon: 20mass%) were preferable propellants for high performance although with PTFE(carbon: 10mass%) laser should be irradiated to its new surface for every shot. In laser irradiation with PTFE divergent nozzles, there existed an optimum nozzle geometry for improvement of performance characteristics. In a case with a nozzle half angle of 15 deg and a length of 3 mm, the momentum coupling coefficient and the specific impulse reached 112 mu Ns/J and 300 sec, respectively.