Original Article
Jianfeng Dai, Chunmei Cui, Bi
Abstract
A deployable umbrella-shaped keel concentrator has been proposed for the solar thermal propulsion (STP) system, the improved concentrator will make up the inherent defect of traditional inflatable concentrators and rigid fixed concentrators. Taking ammonia as the propellant gas will overcomes the shortcomings of choosing hydrogen and helium. The performance of STP system equipped with this new structure prime concentrator and propellant gas with refractive secondary concentrator has been investigated by the software MATLAB. The results reveal that the thrust and specific impulse could reach to 25N and 3500s, respectively. Indicating this system has significant interesting for selection of optimize parameters and further research of STP in deep layer space operation.