Construction and initial characterization of the Coaxial Plasma Source Facility for high specific impulse electric propulsion

The Coaxial Plasma Source facility (CPS-1) is being developed at the North Carolina State University to investigate the suitability of magnetized coaxial plasma gun sources for use as high-specific-impulse thrusters in advanced nuclear electric propulsion. CPS-1 can produce dense, high-grade neutral magnetized plasmas. The CPS-1 facility comprises a pair of (inner and outer) tungsten-coated stainless-steel coaxial electrodes with outer diameters of 20.32 and 13.97 cm, respectively. The plasma generating system includes a fast puff valve feed gas injection system with hydrogen or helium feed gas supply, and a high pulse power (10 kV, 60 kJ) supply. The primary focus of experimental efforts will be to directly measure the magnetic nozzle field topology and dynamics, and plasma magnetofluid parameters including mass flow, density, exit velocity, and plasma detachment from the magnetic nozzle