Basics of Plume Impingement Analysis for Small Chemical and Cold Gas Thrusters

Abstract

Plume impingement from chemical and cold gas thrusters aboard space vehicles is an important phenomenon to reckon with, as the generally adverse impingement effects, such as contamination, forces and moments, as well as heat loads, can jeopardize the spacecraft’s mission by shortening it’s life time (excessive fuel consumption due to compensating unanticipated moments) or even rendering critical instrumentation useless, e. g. because of contamination of optical surfaces. Accounting for the effects of plume impingement in an early phase of mission and vehicle design is thus desirable, as it reduces the risk of economic or technical failure.