Plasma Physics in Space Electric Propulsion

Dear Colleagues,

Plasma physics issues are crucial for the design and optimization of efficient electric thrusters for space applications. Such thrusters are going to become the standard for a wide range of missions spanning from small-scale satellites control to ambitious interplanetary missions. However, a full understanding of the processes occurring in the different plasma regimes and of the interaction of the plasma with thruster structures is mandatory to achieve the expected advantages in terms of performance and reliability.

A variety of acceleration mechanisms have been proposed and investigated both based on electrostatic and electromagnetic field–particle interactions. This points to the possibility of leveraging on the knowledge built by the whole plasma physics community so that cross-fertilization from different plasma research fields is desirable.

In this Special Issue, we invite submissions exploring the plasma physics issues related to electric propulsion and plasma acceleration both from a theoretical and experimental point of view. Ideally, it could become a tool for scientists of different communities to explore the open problems from different perspectives and also for the propulsion community to become more aware of the different approaches adopted to tackle them. For these reasons, survey papers and reviews are also warmly welcome.

Dr. Emilio Martines
Dr. Matteo Zuin
Guest Editors

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