Abstract The plasma contacting process is described and experiments are discussed that suggest the key role that cold ions play in establishing a low impedance plasma bridge that can conduct current in either direction between a contactor electrode and a dilute plasma. A ring cusp contactor is shown to provide from 1000-mA of electron emission to 500-mA of electron collection as its bias relative to a simulated space plasma is varied through an 80-v range.
Plasma contactor design for electrodynamic tether applications
Advances in Space Research ; 8 , 1 ; 221-224
1988-01-01
4 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
Hollow cathode-based plasma contactor experiments for electrodynamic tether
Tema Archive | 1987
|Electrodynamic Tether Applications and Constraints
Online Contents | 2010
|Electrodynamic Tether Applications and Constraints
AIAA | 2010
|