A cathode-less radio frequency (RF) thruster is a plasma-based system for space propulsion. It consists on a source for plasma generation driven by an RF antenna and a magnetic nozzle for the acceleration of the exhausted plasma stream. A parametric analysis has been conducted in order to evaluate the influence of some key design parameters on the performances of such a thruster. Specifically, the intensity and the topology of the magneto-static field, along with the antenna geometry have been varied. Their influence has been assessed on the plasma parameter profiles within the source (i.e., electron density, electron temperature, and power deposition), the antenna properties (i.e., impedance and current distribution), and the propulsive performances (i.e., thrust and specific impulse). The results presented in this work have been obtained with the validated code 3D-VIRTUS. The latter solves self-consistently both the electro-magnetic wave propagation and the plasma transport within a source driven by a RF antenna. An analytical model has been subsequently employed in order to solve the plasma dynamics in the plume and, in turn, to estimate the propulsive performances.

中文翻译：

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无阴极射频推进器的参数研究

无阴极射频 (RF) 推进器是一种基于等离子体的空间推进系统。它由一个由射频天线驱动的等离子体产生源和一个用于加速排出的等离子体流的磁喷嘴组成。进行了参数分析，以评估一些关键设计参数对这种推进器性能的影响。具体来说，静磁场的强度和拓扑结构以及天线几何结构都发生了变化。它们对源内等离子体参数分布（即电子密度、电子温度和功率沉积）、天线特性（即阻抗和电流分布）和推进性能（即推力和比冲）的影响已得到评估）。这项工作中呈现的结果是通过验证代码 3D-VIRTUS 获得的。后者自洽地解决了由射频天线驱动的源内的电磁波传播和等离子体传输。随后采用了一个分析模型来求解羽流中的等离子体动力学，进而估计推进性能。