This document discusses non-chemical propulsion systems as alternatives to traditional chemical rocket propulsion. It describes several types of non-chemical propulsion including electric propulsion technologies like resistojets, arcjets, ion thrusters, and hall thrusters. Thermal propulsion options are also presented, such as solar thermal and nuclear thermal. Solar sails that use photon pressure from sunlight for propulsion are also covered. The advantages of these non-chemical propulsion systems are highlighted, such as requiring less propellant, producing continuous low thrust, and being more fuel efficient than chemical rockets.

1. NON-CHEMICAL PROPULSION
Presented by:
Mashooq O

2. CONTENTS
 Introduction
 Types of Non-chemical propulsion systems
 Description
 Advantages

3. WHAT IS PROPULSION?
 Means of creating force leading to movement
 Source of mechanical power used to generate force

4. INTRODUCTION
 Chemical Propulsion involves the chemical reaction
of propellants to move or control a spacecraft
 Primary propulsion, reaction control, station
keeping, precision pointing, and orbital
manoeuvring
 Non-chemical Propulsion eliminates the use of
chemical reactants

5. TYPES OF NON-CHEMICAL PROPULSION
Electric
Propulsion
Electro Thermal Resistojets
Arcjets
Electrostatic Ion Thrusters
Hall Thrusters
Electromagnetic Pulsed Inductive
Magnetoplasmadynamic
Thermal
Propulsion
Solar Thermal
Nuclear Thermal
Solar Sail
Propulsion Solar Sails

6. ELECTRIC PROPULSION
 Uses electrical energy to change the velocity of
a spacecraft
 Work by electrically expelling propellant at high
speed

7. ELECTROTHERMAL
 Propulsion of spacecraft by using an electric arc
or other electric heater
 Bring propellant to high temperature

8. RESISTOJETS
 Use an electrically heated element in contact with
the propellant
 Increase the enthalpy prior to expansion through a
nozzle
 Commercial communications satellites for station
keeping, orbit insertion, attitude control, and de-
orbiting
 Power level ranging from 467-885W
 Low power (80%) and very high specific impulse
(2000 to over 10,000 seconds)

9. ARCJETS
 Uses electric arc to heat the propellant prior to
expansion through a nozzle
 Primarily used in commercial communications
satellites for station keeping
 Power level ranges from 1670 to 2000W

10. ELECTROSTATIC PROPULSION
 Rely upon electric fields for accelerating and
expelling ions to produce thrust and propel the
space craft
 Electrically charges atoms from an on-board fuel
supply
 Inert gas is injected into the ionisation chamber
then expelled for propulsion

11. ION THRUSTERS
 Employ a variety of plasma generation techniques
to ionize a large fraction of the propellant
 High voltage grids extract the ions from the plasma
 Electrostatically accelerate them to high velocity

12. HALL THRUSTERS
 Utilize both electric and magnetic field to generate
the plasma
 Perpendicular electric field accelerates ions to high
exhaust velocities
 Transverse field inhibits electron motion that would
tend to short out the electric field
 Produces Isp 1200-2000 seconds and efficiency of
50-70%

13. ELECTROMAGNETIC PROPULSION
 Accelerating an object by the utilization of a flowing
electrical current and magnetic fields
 Either create an opposing magnetic field, or to
charge a fluid, which can then be repelled

14. PULSED INDUCTIVE THRUSTER
 Creates plasma by inductive breakdown of gaseous
propellant transiently puffed onto the surface of an
induction coil
 Energy stored in a bank of capacitors
 Generates a flat ring of current
 Efficiency of greater than 50%, and an Isp of 2000-
9000 seconds in a single pulse

15. MAGNETOPLASMADYNAMIC THRUSTER
 Employ the interaction of high currents with
magnetic fields to accelerate ionized propellant
 Offer high efficiency and very high power
processing capability in a small volume
 Variants on the MPD thruster: steady state self-field
engines, steady state applied-field engines and
quasi-steady thrusters
 Efficiencies of over 50% at Isp greater than 10,000
seconds

16. THERMAL PROPULSION
 Propellant is heated
 Heated propellant would be fed through a
conventional rocket nozzle to produce thrust

17. SOLAR THERMAL PROPULSION
 Heats the propellant with concentrated sunlight
inside an absorber cavity
 Solar energy is focused inside either a direct gain
or thermal storage type engine configuration
 Engine operated as a heat exchanger with the
propellant
 Provides a very high specific impulse (~500–1200
seconds)
 Solar concentrator may be rigid, segmented or
inflatable

18. NUCLEAR THERMAL PROPULSION
 High thrust, high Isp propulsion technology
 Demonstrated thrusts double that compared to
chemical propulsion
 Comprises of two: Fusion and Fission propulsion
 High Isp allows reductions of the initial mass in low
earth orbit
 7,500 to 250,000 lbs of thrust with specific impulses
of 800 to 900 seconds

19. SOLAR SAIL PROPULSION
 Uses sunlight to propel vehicles through space
 Technology uses solar photons which are reflected
off sails made of lightweight, reflective material
 Continuous photonic pressure provides enough
thrust to perform manoeuvres

20. SOLAR SAILS
 Require no on-board propellant, thus reducing
payload mass
 Produce thrust by reflecting solar photons and thus
transferring much of their momentum to the sail
 Demonstrated both photon acceleration and
attitude control
 Due to the constraints of gravity, solar sail
propulsion performance is limited

21. ADVANTAGES OF NCP SYSTEMS
 Non-chemical propulsion require much less
propellant to produce the same overall effect
 Produced force can be applied continuously for
very long periods
 Electric thrusters possess the ability to regulate the
force applied to the spacecraft very accurately
 Solar thermal systems have longer-life, lower-cost,
more-flexible cryogenic upper stage and reusable
inter-orbital tugs
 Nuclear rockets are more fuel efficient and much
lighter than chemical rockets
 Condensed trip times would help reduce astronaut
and instrument exposure to harmful radiation
 The major advantage of a solar-sail spacecraft is its
ability to travel between the planets and to the stars
without carrying fuel.
 Solar-sail spacecraft, which have gradual but
constant acceleration, can achieve greater
velocities than conventional chemical rockets

22. THANK YOU