http://fastrac.ae.utexas.edu/news/recent.php http://fastrac.ae.utexas.edu/for_radio_operators/overview.php http://www.spaceflightnow.com/minotaur/stps26/status.html FASTRAC （带有推力、相对导航和姿态控制的编队自主飞行）任务 Is In Orbit! November 20, 2010 FASTRAC was launched into orbit on Friday November 19 at 7:21 pm Central Standard Time! It was successfully inserted by a Minotaur IV rocket into a 650 km altitude, 72 degree inclination orbit. FASTRAC has been transmitting beacon and crosslink data which have been received by amateur radio operators around the world. Control of the satellite was transferred to The University of Texas at Austin shortly after launch vehicle separation at 7:56 pm. The first known FASTRAC beacon received from space was reported by DK3WN in Germany at 12:01 am (CST) November 20. The two FASTRAC satellites, Emma and Sara Lily, were both heard transmitting to ground and crosslinking with each other. Since then, radio contacts have been reported by amateur radio operators around the world. The University of Texas at Austin Ground Station heard the FASTRAC beacon in its first pass over Austin at 6:22 am. The station plans to verify the command link at the earliest opportunity. Once this occurs, the mission will enter its initial subsystem checkout phase. All satellite systems appear to be functioning as planned based on first look data. The FASTRAC mission is divided into two basic phases. The first phase is the science portion of the mission. During this phase the two satellites will be sharing GPS data as long as they are within range of each other. The GPS data will be processed on board each satellite and then stored in flash memory to calculate an on-orbit relative navigation solution. Also, the satellites will be performing attitude determination with the GPS receiver. FASTRAC 1 will be firing the micro-discharge plasma thruster whenever the thrust vector is within 15 degrees of the anti-velocity vector. The data will be relayed to the ground when the satellite is in communication with a ground station. A coordination plan is being developed so that participating amateur radio ground stations can play a major role in collecting this data and relaying it back to this Web site. The second phase of the mission begins by reconfiguring the satellites for use by the amateur radio community. The satellites will be reconfigured so that they can be used as digipeaters and form part of the Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS) network. The capabilities of these satellites are governed largely by the functionality of the Kantronics KPC9612-Plus TNC. The satellites will be reconfigured after the primary mission to serve on the APRS network.
The Microcavity Discharge Thruster (MCD) is a novel electrothermal thruster concept. It relies on flat panel microplasma heritage, realizing discharges in cavities as small as 10 m in diameter at pressures up to well above 1 atm. Gas temperatures may reach 1500 K or higher at up to 2 W of power deposited per cavity, and if expanded through a nozzle, an electrothermal microthruster array concept can be realized. The thruster concept consists of two perforated aluminum foil electrodes onto which an aluminum oxide layer is grown. The two electrode sheaths are then bonded, and the perforations form the discharge cavities. A chemical etch forms a nozzle for each cavity at one side of the electrode sheath. Applying a 50-150 kHz, 400-1200 VAC to the electrodes creates alternating electric fields inside the gas filled cavity, leading to low (1%) degrees of ionization and subsequent heating of the partially ionized gas in the alternating electric field.
Fundamentals of Electric Propulsion Ion and Hall Thrusters 内容提要： 本书主要介绍了离子推力器和霍尔推力器的主要基本理论及其在空间推进中的应用。大致内容分为以下几个部分：一、介绍了电推进技术的背景，原理以及相关等离子物理的基础知识；二、介绍了离子推力器中等离子体产生机制、加速机制、栅极系统以及空心阴极等主要结构和组成等；三、介绍了霍尔推力器的基本原理、性能以及物理测试模型等。最后还介绍了离子推力器和霍尔推力器羽流的基本特性及其飞行测试状况。 书籍下载（五个压缩包）： Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
标签: 等离子体推进
