Phys.org September 28, 2018
Ejecting plasma beam from the satellite to impart a force to the debris to decelerate it so that it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere and burning up naturally, accelerates the satellite in the opposite direction, which makes it difficult to maintain a consistent distance between debris and the satellite. An international team of researchers (Japan, Australia) demonstrated that the bi-directional ejection of plasma plumes from a helicon plasma thruster can yield the space debris removal operation using a single propulsion system. In laboratory experiments, the plasma thruster was precisely controlled with a magnetic field and gas injection. The decelerating force was imparted to an object simulating debris while maintaining the zero-net force to the thruster (and satellite). The helicon plasma thruster is an electrodeless system, which allows it to undertake long operations performed at a high-power level…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Schematic of a magnetic nozzle rf plasma thruster (helicon plasma thruster) having two open source exits and photographs of the three operation modes in the laboratory test. Credit: Kazunori Takahashi.