Plasma engine calculator

From: Adrian Tymes (wingcat@pacbell.net)
Date: Wed Mar 21 2001 - 23:16:57 MST


So I finished before the weekend...


The following is for a space transport vehicle whose sole propulsion is a plasma engine constructed as follows:

Note the following potential inaccuracies in this model: Default values are from the following sources:
NameUnitsValue
Plasma TemperatureK
Molar Mass Of Fuelkg/mol
Molar Heat Capacity Of FuelJ/mol * K
Total Vehicle Mass At Startkg
Structural Mass Fraction(none)
Delta Vm/s
Accelerationm/s^2
Plasma Beta (thermal pressure to magnetic pressure ratio measured at exhaust bell edge)(none)
Exhaust Bell Thicknessm
Exhaust Bell Lengthm
Exhaust Bell Internal Volumem^3
Exhaust Bell Resistanceohm/m
Exhaust Bell Densitykg/m^3
Plasma Heating Efficiency (1 watt input generates X watts of heat)(none)
Power Storage Max. Power DensityWh/kg
Power Storage Max. Current DensityAh/kg
Exhaust Velocitym/s
Mass Of Fuel Consumedkg
Total Time To Achive Delta Vs
Rate Of Fuel Consumptionkg/s
Exhaust Bell Radiusm
Exhaust Bell Circumferencem
Exhaust Bell Masskg
Current To Contain PlasmaA
Power To Contain PlasmaW
Energy To Heat PlasmaJ
Power Storage Mass (current, ampere-hour limited)kg
Power Storage Mass (heat and containment, watt-hour limited)kg
Power Storage Mass (actual: maximum of above two)kg
Structure Masskg
Maximum Payload Masskg
Payload Mass Fraction(none)



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