Particle-in-Cell Simulation of a Down-Scaled HEMP Thruster

We present an electrostatic Particle-in-Cell simulation of a downscaled High Efficiency Multistage Plasma Thruster (HEMPT). The purpose of downscaling the HEMPT design is to reach the requirements of missions which have a need for low thrust (0.1...150 μN) and low noise (root of the noise spectral density ≤ 0.1 μN/√Hz). These are upcoming formation flying space missions like eLISA (evolved Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) or NGGM (Next Generation Gravity Mission). The aim of the here presented numerical simulations is to get an improved understanding of the thruster's physics especially in its downscaled configuration, in order to reach the design goals.