关键词: 电弧加热发动机;羽流;双静电探针;电子温度;电子数密度

Abstract: A double-electrostatic probe system has been established to measure the electron temperature and electron number density in a 1 kW-class arcjet thruster plume. The distributions of the electron temperature and electron number density along the plume axial and radial directions, and their variations with arc current and gas flow rate have been obtained. Experimental results show that the arcjet plume deviates evidently from the LTE state, and the electron temperature shows complicated distributions and variational trend.The electron temperature along the plume axis is lower than those off the axis, while the electron number density decreases monotonically from the plume axis to the edge. The electron temperature at the plume axis decreases with increasing arc current, while the electron number density at the plume axis increases with increasing arc current. Variations of the electron temperature at the plume center region with the gas flow rate are not clearly observed.

Key words: Arcjet thruster; Plume; Double-electrostatic probe; Electron temperature; Electron number density