Higher acceleration technique of microprojectiles in a magnetoplasmadynamic accelerator

For the simulation of hypervelocity impact of micrometeoroids and microdebris on a spacecraft, an improved acceleration technique is proposed in a magnetoplasmadynamic accelerator. The compression of the plasma flow was enhanced due to modification of the magnetic-compressor-coil geometry in the accelerator. Such enhancement was found to be effective for the improvement of the flight parameters of microprojectiles. Due to the modification of the coil geometry, the velocity of glass beads of 500–600 μm diam was increased from about 3 to 6 km/s which is included in the hypervelocity impact regime of projectiles in space. In addition, the main direction of the projectile flight was improved to become more parallel to the central axis of the accelerator.