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Jason Thrasher
Missouri University of Science & Technology
Advisor: Dr. Joshua Rovey
Abstract
If a B field is installed parallel to the interior walls of an ion thruster, it can protect the walls from ion impacts and decrease material sputter. Not only does this decrease the energy losses associated with ion wall collisions, but it increases the lifetime of the thruster by decreasing the amount the thruster wall ablation during firing. If the B field includes cusps where the matching polarities of the magnets meet, then electrons can gather there causing electron confinement and increasing the ionization of the plasma. In order to optimize and better design new iterations of the thruster, the magnetic field must be properly modeled and measured.
Jason Thrasher is a senior in Aerospace Engineering at Missouri S&T from Ellisville, Missouri. He has spent time on the S&T Formula SAE design team as aerodynamicist and the Missouri S&T Satellite team as propulsion engineer. His internship experience includes working on Sabreliners at Georgian Aerospace in Chesterfield, Missouri and working on the Attitude Control Motor for the Launch Abort System of the Orion crew capsule at ATK in Elkton, Maryland. This summer, he will be in Kent, Washington interning for Blue Origin and this fall, he will be pursuing a Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering.
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