Why Electric propulsion needs to be studied?
Because electric propulsion is hot! Despite their complicated physics, electric propulsion thrusters are more and more commonly implemented on all sorts of satellite platforms. Electric propulsion has been a mature technology for several years. Nevertheless, all electric propulsion thrusters used for orbit raising purposes or station keeping manoeuvers need to be carefully studied and analyzed before being implemented in the satellite. Without a thorough analysis, the satellite design can suffer from several complications since the location, orientation and type of thrusters will likely be chosen incorrectly.
What is plume impingement due to electric thrusters?
Highly charged ions expelled from electric propulsion thrusters can impinge on neighboring surfaces and lead to sputtering (also known as erosion), deposition of sputtered materials (also known as contamination) and exchanges of kinetic energy with the impacted surfaces. This means that assessing thruster plume interactions with the surrounding surfaces is key in determining the overall configuration of the spacecraft. Especially the correct positioning of thrusters in relation to solar arrays and sensitive instruments can be particularly challenging.
What is openPlume EP?
openPlumeEP is a simulation software that offers you the possibility to analyze the plume impingement effects on your spacecraft due to electric propulsion. The software covers all significant impingement effects (erosion, contamination, forces and torques) by allowing you to load different thruster properties. Based on python scripts, ray tracing is performed from the thrusters exit plane to the satellite surfaces. It is possible to model any type of thruster by injecting ion densities and energies gathered from experimental data or particle-in-cell codes (PIC) or by choosing custom distribution.
Who can use this tool?
openPlumeEP is open to anyone! Whether you are a student, a start-up developing a new thruster, a supplier wanting to reassure primes or an agency wanting to make your own independent calculations, openPlumeEP is the tool for you!
Let’s imagine that you have developed a thruster and you are worried about the satellite prime integrator’s reaction: a simple openPlumeEP analysis can help you to visualize the performance of your thruster and its interactions with the platform and thus provide a lot of reassurance.
Where can I download openPlume?
openPlumeEP can be downloaded here for free. The source code is also included under GNU-GPL v3.0 distribution and modification conditions. The User Manual is provided within the zipped folder.
Is it really for freE?
Yes! openPlumeEP’s philosophy is based on an open-source approach. The numerical tool is distributed under a GNU-GPL license with the source code available to the user.
We aim to bring the space community together and get different people to work towards the same goal. We hope to raise awareness for the importance of plume modeling and build the next generation of simulation tools.
Is openPlumeEP validated?
Validation and application to industrial cases have been done extensively within our team. However, these validations can only be provided in dedicated trainings. If you are interested, contact us or go to this page (link to memberships and offers).
Meanwhile, some information is available in publications from several conferences that took place over the last few years.
How is it “open”?
In order to facilitate the exchanges, all the choices of pre-processing and post-processing software are made with keeping in mind the open approach:
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GMSH: Open-source three-dimensional FE mesh generator. Used for meshing, output files are in MSH format by default (ASCII and can be modified).
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Python scripts: used for the calculation (visible and can be modified)
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ParaView: Open-source data analysis and visualization application, built on VTK library. Used for visualizing results, supports wide variety of data formats, conversion to VTK format is straightforward