Thermal and Electric Propulsion
PSI developed a new type of pulsed electric propulsion system, called “Pulsed ElectroGasdynamic (PEG) thruster,” for attitude control and orbit maneuver. In this thruster, propellant gas is introduced into the thrust nozzle through a fast acting gas valve. When the propellant gas partially fills the thruster nozzle in 100~200 μs, a short, high voltage pulse is applied to break down and heat the propellant gas. The heated propellant gas expands through the nozzle generating a high impulse (~mN-s per pulse) at a high specific thrust (120 μN-s/joule). The specific impulse (Isp) will be in the range of 1000~1400 s. The development of the PEG thruster is currently supported funding from NASA. When developed to technical maturity, the PEG thruster will be used for spacecraft attitude control and orbit maneuver.