Marco Manente

• PhD
• University of Padua

This paper presents a study for the realization of a space mission which employs nanosatellites driven by an external laser source impinging on an optimized lightsail, as a valuable technology to launch swarms of spacecrafts into the Solar System. Nanosatellites propelled by laser can be useful for heliosphere exploration and for planetary observat...

This chapter is about the electric propulsion (EP) for CubeSats, both state-of-the-art and future perspectives are discussed. An EP system can be defined as a thruster in which a gas is accelerated by means of electrical heating and/or electric and magnetic body forces. Provided that the thrust is generated employing electric power, which is limite...

A numerical study of the plasma dynamics in a Helicon Plasma Thrusters' (HPT) cluster is presented. For the first time in the literature, the three-dimensional (3D) plasma dynamics occurring in the plume of a HPTs' cluster is analyzed. The physical investigation relies on ProPic, a 3D Particle-In-Cell (PIC) code specifically designed to simulate th...

This paper presents a study for the realization of a space mission which employs nanosatellites driven by an external laser source impinging on an optimized lightsail, as a valuable technology to launch swarms of spacecrafts into the Solar System. Nanosatellites propelled by laser can be useful for the heliosphere exploration and for planetary obse...

This article is devoted to the presentation of a semianalytical model of a helicon plasma thruster based on: 1) a 0-D global source model (GSM) for the simulation of the plasma source; 2) a monodimensional acceleration model for the plasma expansion and thrust production in the magnetic nozzle; and 3) a detachment criterion for the identification o...

DISCOVERER Project: https://discoverer.space/our-findings/discoverer-poster/

This review aims at describing the state of the art of the electric propulsion for CubeSats as long as to identify general trends for the near-future. Electric propulsion is appealing for CubeSats because of the high specific impulse (up to 10000 s) and, in turn, the possibility of saving up propellant mass reducing costs. Integrating an electric t...

The rise of the New Space economy and the ever-increasing development of commercial space have brought new players in the space industry ecosystem. This evolution of the space market is characterized by the necessity of rapid integration and testing phase, to minimize the time-to-market. The growth of opportunities of IOD missions and their perform...

Over the last few years, several new space systems relying on plasma propulsion have been proposed. One of the most promising technologies are Magnetically Enhanced Plasma Thrusters (MEPTs). The main components are (i) a dielectric tube, inside which plasma is produced, (ii) a radiofrequency (RF) antenna, dedicated to plasma production and heating,...

Over the last decades, CubeSats have been influencing considerably the space market that is changing towards a "New Space Economy". The main drivers of this new trend respond to 1) reduced cost to access space and 2) versatility of the platforms with respect to traditional satellites. Other key aspects are the opportunity of reducing manufacturing...

REGULUS is an Iodine-based electric propulsion system. It has been designed and manufactured at the Italian company Technology for Propulsion and Innovation SpA (T4i). REGULUS integrates the Magnetically Enhanced Plasma Thruster (MEPT) and its subsystems, namely electronics, fluidic, and thermo-structural in a volume of 1.5 U. The mass envelope is...

Recently, a numerical tool for the simulation of plasma production within discharge chambers, namely 3D-VIRTUS, was developed for the simulation of Helicon Plasma Thrusters. This tool solves the electro-magnetic wave propagation and the plasma transport to provide the parameters required for assessing the propulsive performances. Even though it has...

This work is devoted to the presentation of a numerical model for the preliminary study of a Magnetically Enhanced Plasma Thruster (MEPT) which relies on a Particle-in-cell (PIC) strategy. In order to reduce the computation time, maintaining a sufficiently accurate description of a MEPT, a quasi-2 dimensional (Q2D) electrostatic PIC model has been...

This study is focused on the numerical simulation of the plasma dynamics in the acceleration stage of a Magnetically Enhanced Plasma Thrusters (MEPT). We resort on a three-dimensional full particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation strategy to simulate the plume in the magnetic nozzle. The study has been performed with the open-source software Spacecraft Pl...

REGULUS is an electric propulsion unit fed with iodine propellant developed at the Italian based company Technology for Propulsion and Innovation SpA (T4i). REGULUS relies on the Magnetically Enhanced Plasma Thruster (MEPT) which is integrated with electronics, fluidic, and thermo-structural subsystems into a complete propulsion unit of 1.5 U with...

This article is devoted to the presentation of a numerical model of a Helicon Plasma Thruster (HPT) which relies on: 1) the 3-D adVanced fluId dRifT diffUsion plaSma solver (3D-VIRTUS) for the simulation of the plasma source and 2) an analytical model of the plume for the solution of the plasma acceleration and detachment, and in turn for the preli...

Micro and small satellites' market is rapidly growing, and its value is estimated to triple in the next four years. To allow different mission scenarios, the need for an autonomous, reliable and cost-effective propulsion system integrated into miniaturized satellites is becoming evident. The aim of this paper is to discuss the REGULUS electric prop...

Iodine becomes a common electric thruster propellant due to its well known advantages. The iodine detailed global model developed by DEDALOS Ltd is used here for theoretical characterization and optimization of on ground prototypes, on the basis of plasma components composition diagrams and of functioning diagrams, giving a preview of the main spec...

REGULUS is a complete electric propulsion unit fed with iodine propellant that is under development at Technology for Propulsion and Innovation 21 , an Italian based company developing propulsion systems. The REGULUS unit relies on the Magnetically Enhanced Plasma Thruster (MEPT) which is integrated with electronics, fluidic, and thermos-structural...

This work is devoted to the presentation of a numerical model of a Helicon Plasma Thruster which relies on: (i) the 3-Dimensional adVanced fluId dRifT diffUsion plaSma solver (3D-VIRTUS) for the simulation of the Plasma Source, and (ii) an analytical model of the plume for the solution of the plasma acceleration and detachment, and in turn for the...

The electric propulsion subsystem currently used for commercial missions are designed to operate with xenon as propellant thanks to the good performance that it provides and to its good storability. With the arrival on the market of large satellite constellation, pushing the cost of the propulsion subsystem down at the same time requiring considera...

EDI (enhanced biDimensional pIc) is a two-dimensional (2-D) electrostatic/magnetostatic particle-in-cell (PIC) code designed to optimize plasma based systems. The code is built on an unstructured mesh of triangles, allowing for arbitrary geometries. The PIC core is comprised of a Boris leapfrog scheme that can manage multiple species. Particle trac...

REGULUS is a propulsion platform for CubeSats. It integrates the Magnetically Enhanced Thruster (MET) and its subsystems (i.e., fluidic line, electronics, and thermo-structural components) in a 2U envelope of weight lower than 3 kg. MET is a RF cathode-less thruster capable of providing thrust in the range 300 μN to 900 μN, with maximum specific im...

Miniaturized satellites have become increasingly common in recent years. In order to enable different mission scenarios, satellite platforms as small as CubeSats (U-class spacecraft) require versatile, low-cost, compact and reliable propulsion systems. The Magnetic Enhanced Plasma (MEP) technology is a good candidate as propulsion system for small...

A gaseous plasma antenna array (PAA) is an aggregate of plasma discharges and possibly conventional metallic radiating elements, and it constitutes a promising alternative to metallic antennas for applications in which fast reconfiguration of radiation pattern, and gain is desired; such properties can be achieved by exploiting the electronic switch...

XeDGM, a detailed Xe plasma global model, is summarily described and used to evaluate the plasma components constitution of Helicon type electric thrusters fed by Xe. Characterization and functioning description of the thrusters on the basis of XeDGM are also addressed. One of the XeDGM assets is the calculation of the atomic lines intensities pert...

Xenon Detailed Global Model

A miniature plasma propulsion module is currently being developed by Italian SME Technology for Propulsion and Innovation S.r.l. (from now on T4i), a spin-off of University of Padova (Italy). The module features the Magnetically Enhanced Thruster (MET), a low power (up to 70 W) RF thruster [7] jointly developed by T4i and the Center for Space Studi...

In order to predict the propulsive performances of a Helicon plasma thruster we have coupled the 3D-VIRTUS code, which solves self-consistently the Helicon discharge, with an analytical model of the plasma acceleration provided by the magnetic nozzle. The 3D-VIRTUS code is composed of two modules: the ElectroMagnetic (EM) module which solves for th...

We have designed and tested a thrust stand for RF plasma thrusters characterization. The balance is employed in the development of small and medium size RF plasma thrusters; it allows for a high number of tests per day with an accuracy in the order of 10%. The balance relies on the counterbalanced-type pendulum concept, which allows adjusting the i...

The main objective of the project SAPERE/STRONG is the realization of a space tug, coupled to the rocket VEGA, devoted to the transfer of payloads of different sizes from an intermediate orbit to a target orbit. The principal propulsion system of the tug will be an Helicon Plasma Thruster; the University of Padova-CISAS "G. Colombo" is the partner...

A joint effort between the Center for Space Studies and Activities “CISAS – G. Colombo” of the University of Padua, Italy, and T4i, an Italian SME active in the field of space propulsion, is aimed at the development of a miniature plasma propulsion module, suitable for integration in small platforms down to Nanosatellite scale and versatile enough...

We have numerically studied how actual confinement magneto-static field lines affect power deposition in a Helicon source. We have solved the wave propagation by means of SPIREs, a 1D-radial finite-difference frequency-domain electromagnetic solver. We have calculated the radial power deposition profile for different radial gradient profiles of the...

We want to develop a numerical model of an Helicon Plasma Thruster. In particular the production stage, namely the plasma source, has been modeled with a fluid solver implemented in OpenFOAM which solves for the plasma transport, coupled to the Electro Magnetic solver ADAMANT which solves for the power deposition. The acceleration stage, namely the...

We have developed a numerical tool devoted to the design and the optimization of an Helicon plasma source employed in an Helicon Plasma Thruster. Our tool is specifically conceived to model high density (higher than > 10 18 m −3) Helicon plasma sources. The tool is realized coupling ADAMANT, an Electro Magnetic solver which solves for the wave prop...

Standard approaches to reproduce the coupling of wave propagation and plasma transport inside a Helicon Plasma Source rely on electromagnetic simulations coupled to either kinetic or Particle-in-Cell strategies to reproduce the plasma response. If the plasma density can reach values higher than , these approaches would result in a computational bur...

Microwave discharges have a wide range of applications, such as gas conversion, material processing and surface treatment; also they can provide an efficient way for dissociation of molecular gases as CO2 and N2O. Depending on the operating pressure and temperature, non-equilibrium conditions can be attained within the discharge, where electron tem...

Gaseous plasma antennas constitute a promising alternative to conventional metallic antennas for applications in which reconfigurability is desired. By tuning the plasma discharge parameters, e.g., plasma density, antenna properties can be changed dynamically. In this work we report on recent numerical investigations into the characteristics of a p...

Gaseous plasma antenna arrays (PAA) constitute a promising alternative to conventional metallic antennas for applications in which fast reconfigurability with respect to some property (e.g., the gain, the frequency band) is desired. In STARLET (plaSma anTennA foR satelLitE navigaTion) project, reconfigurable capabilities of plasma antennas will be...

The Stanford Cylindrical Cusped Field Thruster (CCFT) has been experimentally and numerically investigated with particular focus on the exit plane acceleration region near the top magnetic cusp. Time-averaged xenon ion laser-induced fluorescence measurements using the 5d[4] 7/2 −6 p[3] 5/2 (λ = 834.72-nm air) Xe II transition have mapped the total...

The zero-dimensional model developed consists of detailed kinetic schemes for bulk plasma reactions and surface processes; particle in cell simulations are performed to prop- erly describe the behaviour of the charged particles at the exhaust plume so to obtain exhaust parameters for the global model. Given a set of input parameters, such as ge- om...

The ADAMANT (Advanced coDe for Anisotropic Media and ANTennas) code has been developed with the aim of computing either the power injected into the plasma by RF antennas in the case of thrusters for space applications, or the radi-ation pattern of antennas that rely on partially ionized gas to radiate electromagnetic waves. The code implements the...

This paper presents a research work estimating the impact of propellant sloshing on the pointing-stability of the EUCLID satellite, for a pre-design phase of the project. The analysis is carried out by means of computational fluid dynamics. Two tank fill ratios have been considered: 22% and 50%, with an elastomeric and deformable bladder. To suppor...

This paper presents a research work estimating the impact of propellant sloshing on the pointing-stability of the EUCLID satellite, for a pre-design phase of the project. The analysis is carried out by means of a simplified lumped parameter model describing the fluid system. This model allows the identification of forces and angular moments due to...

Radiofrequency (RF) magnetized Helicon plasma sources have been proposed as propulsive devices for space thrusters. Since the thrust efficiency and specific impulse depend on the power injected into the plasma by the RF antenna, the antenna-plasma coupling must be optimized, and the ADAMANT (Advanced coDe for Anisotropic Media and ANTennas) code ha...

In this work we illustrate the design of a thrust balance, to be employed for the experimental characterization of low power helicon plasma thrusters developed at the Center for Aerospace Studies and Activities (CISAS) “G. Colombo” of the University of Padua. The nominal thrust level of the propulsive systems to be tested is estimated between 1 and...

Plasma antennas constitute a promising alternative to conventional metallic antennas for applications in which reconfigurability with respect to some property is desired. The latter feature can be achieved by tuning the plasma discharge parameters. We use a full-wave numerical tool, ADAMANT (Advanced coDe for Anisotropic Media and ANTennas), based...

Radiofrequency (RF) magnetized Helicon plasma sources have been proposed for the development of space thrusters, whose thrust efficiency and specific impulse depend on the power coupled into the plasma by the RF antenna. To date emphasis has been on the absorption of wave energy by nonuniform plasmas but not much on the role played by the antenna....

Radiofrequency magnetized cylindrical plasma sources are proposed for the development of space thrusters, whose thrust efficiency and specific impulse depend on the power coupled into the plasma. At this stage of research, emphasis has been on the absorption of Whistler wave energy by non-uniform plasmas but not much on the role played by the magne...

The Stanford Cylindrical Cusped Field Thruster (CCFT) has been investigated experimentally and numerically with particular focus on the exit plane acceleration region near the top magnetic cusp. Time-averaged xenon ion laser induced fluorencence measurements using the 5d[4] 7/2 – 6p[3] 5/2 (λ = 843.72 nm) Xe II transition have mapped the total ion...

Optimization of radiofrequency helicon plasma sources for the development of space plasma thrusters (whose thrust efficiency and specific im-pulse depend on the power coupled into the plasma) has focused on the absorption of wave energy by cold collisional plasmas, but not much on the role played by the antenna that drives the discharge. To over-co...

Plasma antennas constitute a promising alternative to conventional metallic antennas for ap-plications in which reconfigurability with respect to some property is desired. The latter feature can be achieved by tuning the plasma discharge parameters. However, simplified models have been employed so far for the analysis of such devices, and the influ...

The non-intrusive density measurement of the thin plasma produced by a mini-helicon space thruster (HPH.com project) is a challenge, due to the broad density range (between 1016 m−3 and 1019 m−3) and the small size of the plasma source (2 cm of diameter). A microwave interferometer has been developed for this purpose. Due to the small size of plasm...

We present a three-dimensional Ray-Tracing solver, called RAYWh (RAY-tracing Whistler), for the electromagnetic propagation and power deposition in plasma sources for space thrusters, where high density plasmas (ranging from 1017 to 1019 particles/m3) are confined by general magnetic configurations with magnitude below < 0.15T. The 3D Maxwell-Vlaso...

The physics involved in the coupling, propagation and absorption of RF helicon waves (electronic whistler) in low temperature Helicon plasma sources is investigated by solving the 3D Maxwell-Vlasov model equations using a WKB asymptotic expansion. The reduced set of equations is formally Hamiltonian and allows for the reconstruction of the wave fro...

The equilibrium conditions of radiofrequency heated plasma cylinders have been calculated by solving the two coupled problems of the electromagnetic power deposition and the macroscopic transport of charged and neutral species. The two Maxwell wave equations have been finite-differenced along the radius of the cylinder (SPIREs code), providing the...

The Maxwell wave Equations have been numerically solved for the case of a cylin-drical plasma-filled waveguide with perfectly conductive walls. The calculations have been done using the SPIREs code, which solves the electromagnetic propagation in frequency domain along the radius of the waveguide by means of a mixed spatial-spectral method (1D-spac...

This paper describes the experimental tests performed at space propulsion laboratory of CISAS (Center of Studies and Activities for Space, University of Padova) in order to characterize and optimize a low power Radio Frequency plasma thruster in the class 50W-1mN. The thruster has been developed within the research project Helicon Plasma Hydrazine...

The development of new target ion source systems for the selective production of exotic species (SPES) facility is currently in progress at Legnaro National Laboratories. In this context, the study of ion sources and their performance in terms of ionization efficiency and transversal emittance is a crucial point in order to maximize the available y...

We present SPIREs (plaSma Padova Inhomogeneous Radial Electromagnetic solver), a Finite-Difference Frequency-Domain (FDFD) electromagnetic solver in one dimension for the rapid calculation of the electromagnetic fields and the deposited power of a large variety of cylindrical plasma problems. The two Maxwell wave equations have been discretized usi...

This paper describes the experimental tests done to support the development of an helicon plasma thruster for small satellites. The thruster class is 50 W 1mN. This work is done within the research project Helicon Plasma Hydrazine Combined Micro (HPH.com) in the frame of the 7th Framework Programme of the EU by an European consortium. Experimental...

An implicitly charge-conserving algorithm has been developed for solving the nonlinear Poisson equation that results from the use of Boltzmann electrons. The new algorithm solves for the Boltzmann density parameter and, in the case of a Neumann boundary condition, the surface-charge density, simultaneously as it solves for the discretized electrost...

A medium-power (1.5 kW) plasma thruster based on a helicon source is considered as a candidate for primary space propulsion. A high-density plasma is produced by the use of a radio frequency (RF) transmitting antenna, which produces helicon waves to ionize a neutral gas (e.g., argon, krypton, xenon, helium or hydrogen) flowing through a tube and co...

A medium-power helicon thruster (MPHT) is an electric propulsion device that uses a helicon plasma source to achieve specific impulses of up to 1500 s with argon propellant.1 The Center of Studies and Activities for Space (CISAS) has created a prototype design, and the Georgia Institute of Technology (GA Tech) has designed and built a nominally 1.5...

To design a launcher system competitive to current launcher technology high combustion chamber pressure is required. In this paper two types of turbo-pumps technologies have been considered in relation to hybrid propulsion systems: (i) spill of hot gas from the combustion chamber, (ii) regenerative cycle. To evaluate effectiveness of each technolog...

Guide, navigation and control system has a great relevance in the design of a formation flying mission. Severe requirements, in terms of relative position's acquisition and maintenance, are common to these missions and a deep investigation is needed in order to identify optimal and feasible solutions. This paper describes a low-thrust electrical mo...

A low-power helicon thruster (LPHT) is an electric propulsion system that utilizes a helicon plasma source with high magnetic field strength to achieve specific impulses of up to 1500 s using argon propellant. The Center of Studies and Activities for Space (CISAS) has created a prototype design, and the Georgia Institute of Technology (GA Tech) has...

During last years some laboratories obtained current free helicon double layers in experiments with both electropositive and electronegative gases. The current free double layer has potential application as a plasma thruster. Although considerable progress has been made, at the present time a number of aspects related to this phenomenon are still o...

SOMMARIO Il grande interesse per missioni svolte con la tecnica del volo in formazione, nelle quali due o più satelliti mantengono una geometria relativa preordinata, porta il progettista ad analizzarne i principali aspetti operativi. In particolare, questo lavoro è focalizzato sul controllo orbitale, il quale, a causa della necessità di precisione...

This paper presents a feasibility study conducted to evaluate the possibility of applying an helicon-double-layer plasma-thruster on UNISAT-class micro-satellite. UNISAT satellites are designed, built and operate in orbit by students, researchers and professors of GAUSS. In the framework of this program four satellite have already been launched (2...

Variable and constant specific impulse electric propulsion are compared by evaluating their performance by means of the 2-D trajectory optimisation of different missions. The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate the advantage given by variable specific impulse in comparison with constant specific impulse. The optimisation was performed by usin...