NASA STTR 2003 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (SBC):		RESEARCH INSTITUTION (RI):
NAME:	MSNW	NAME:	University of Washington
ADDRESS:	16436 SE 39th Place	ADDRESS:	3935 University Way Box 355754
CITY:	Bellevue	CITY:	Seattle
STATE/ZIP:	WA  98008-5858	STATE/ZIP:	WA  98015-6613
PHONE:	(425) 644-2321	PHONE:	(206) 685-7165

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name,Email)
Timothy   Ziemba
ziembat@covad.net
U.S. Citizen or Legal Resident: Yes

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
A new thruster has been conceived and tested that is based on a high power helicon (HPH) plasma wave. In this new method of propulsion, an antenna generates and propagates a helicon wave in a plasma providing a non-thermal, wave-based mechanism for the subsequent acceleration of the plasma ions to high Mach number. The propellant is ionized and accelerated by the wave fields far from the thruster wall that results in an electrode-less plasma propulsion system. The device is small, light-weight, and structurally simple. It can operate with essentially any propellant, with efficiencies comparable to Hall and Ion thrusters. Phase I results indicate that HPH based thruster will make an efficient propulsion system with an estimated thrust of about 1 N for 50 kWe at an Isp of 2000 s in Argon, with higher Isp in Helium and Hydrogen. Higher thrust and Isp levels are expected with further optimization of its operational characteristics. The RF power system is also low mass and highly efficient. Operation with variable duty cycle allows for power delivery from 5 to 50 kW.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (LIMIT 100 WORDS)
Successful development of the High Power Helicon (HPH) thruster would have application to several NASA missions, in particular, the NASA nuclear electric propulsion initiatives such as Project Prometheus and the Jupiter Icy Moon Orbiter (JIMO). The HPH thruster would result in a robust, lightweight, high power, highly efficient, low cost, long-lived propulsion system that could also enable future NASA missions such as the human exploration of Mars.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (LIMIT 100 WORDS)
With the ability to operate efficiently at high density, Helicon discharges have been developed as plasma sources for plasma processing. The initial results for the HPH show downstream plasma distribution that is very uniform over a large area, which is ideal for plasma processing. HPH has demonstrated operation over a wide range of plasma densities and gasses. Being electrode-less with a solid state power source, and producing dense plasma in a highly transparent vessel, there is very likely application in the area of high intensity lighting.