M. Sarno

Can Plasma-Assisted Combustion Make Spacecraft Lighter? A System-Level Break-Even Analysis for Bipropellant Space Propulsion Systems

Plasma-assisted combustion is being widely proposed as a route to higher specific impulse and more compact combustion chambers in rocket engines, but whether its catalytic effect repays its own installed mass has not been established at the vehicle level. The governing parameter, the fraction of chamber chemical power...