Ho, Teck SengCharles, ChristineBoswell, Roderick2020-06-162020-06-160021-8979http://hdl.handle.net/1885/205192Computational fluid dynamics and plasma simulations of three geometrical variations of the Pocket Rocket radiofrequency plasma electrothermal microthruster are conducted, comparing pulsed plasma to steady state cold gas operation. While numerical limitations prevent plasma modelling in a vacuum environment, results may be obtained by extrapolating from plasma simulations performed in a pressurised environment, using the performance delta from cold gas simulations performed in both environments. Slip regime boundary layer effects are significant at these operating conditions. The present investigation targets a power budget of ∼10 W for applications on CubeSats. During plasma operation, the thrust force increases by ∼30% with a power efficiency of ∼30 μNW−1. These performance metrics represent instantaneous or pulsed operation and will increase over time as the discharge chamber attains thermal equilibrium with the heated propellant. Additionally, the sculpted nozzle geometry achieves plasma confinement facilitated by the formation of a plasma sheath at the nozzle throat, and fast recombination ensures a neutral exhaust plume that avoids the contamination of solar panels and interference with externally mounted instruments.16 pagesapplication/pdfen-AU© AIP Publishing 2018. https://publishing.aip.org/resources/researchers/rights-and-permissions/sharing-content-online/ This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in Teck Seng Ho, Christine Charles, and Rod Boswell, Performance modelling of plasma microthruster nozzles in vacuum, Journal of Applied Physics 123, 173301 (2018); doi: 10.1063/1.5012765 and may be found at : https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5012765 (Publisher journal website as of 16/6/2020)2018-05-0110.1063/1.50127652022-08-07