2.2 Introduction, learning objectives and content available in full course

Course subject(s) 2. Rocket & Onboard Propulsion

Introduction

Electric propulsion is a rather special category of space propulsion: it is based on very different principles and operational characteristics than chemical propulsion and, unfortunately, it can not be analyzed by means of the Ideal Rocket Theory.

In this unit, you will learn about the basics of electric propulsion, the various types of electric propulsion available, and how to characterize the performance of the most common ones.

Continue to be curious and to ask questions, and don’t hesitate to contact me for any doubts or remarks!

Angelo

Learning objectives/outcomes

By the end of this activity, you will be able to:

Characterize the key performance parameters of electric propulsion systems and understand the differences between chemical and electrical propulsion
Formulate the technical principles of electric propulsion systems
Identify the technology state-of-the-art, the available electric propulsion options and their physical and technical limitations

Learning Activities (to do’s)

Watch the lecture videos
Practice with the “to do”‘s proposed at the end of each video (reflections on the contents presented in the video)
Read the lecture notes and/or surf through the lecture slides
After having watched and understood all the study material, try the exercises in the Maple TA assignment
Attend the class (or online) session
Attend the CubeSat Workshop (see dedicated learning unit)

Additional material in full course

Five video lectures
Exercise quiz on these lectures

Linear Modelling by TU Delft OpenCourseWare is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://ocw.tudelft.nl/courses/spacecraft-technology/.