Francesco Romano Builds Air-Breathing Plasma Engine With 94.3% Intake Efficiency for VLEO Satellites
Updated
Updated · Universe Today · Sep 12
Francesco Romano Builds Air-Breathing Plasma Engine With 94.3% Intake Efficiency for VLEO Satellites
2 articles · Updated · Universe Today · Sep 12
Summary
Romano’s PhD work at the University of Stuttgart tested an atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion system that uses sparse upper-atmosphere gases as propellant, aiming to keep satellites operating in Very Low Earth Orbit without carrying xenon.
A specular intake emerged as the best design, capturing about 94.3% of incoming particles in wind-tunnel tests and losing only 8% efficiency at a 15-degree tilt.
The RF helicon thruster uses a birdcage antenna and magnetic field to expel a quasi-neutral plasma jet without a cathode neutralizer, avoiding atomic-oxygen corrosion that can cripple conventional ion engines.
Vacuum-chamber tests produced steady plasma on 50-60 watts, and thesis models said the system could sustain orbit at 190-250 km on under 1.6 kW—within typical satellite solar-power limits.
The concept could also support very low Mars orbits at 120-160 km, though the engine remains a lab-stage design with no confirmed flight mission.