The work in ZARATHUSTRA so far has been articulated about 8 major axes:
1) Characterization of electron kinetics in the 2D plasma expansion in a MN. Effort has concluded with 2 publications, including an international review paper.
2) Development of a multifluid plasma code. The code has been applied to the simulation of the plasma expansion in a magnetic arch, a new magnetic topology for plasma acceleration that occurs when combining two cylindrical electrodeless plasma thrusters (EPTs) with opposing polarities, and which is a characteristic aspect of the new magnetic arch thruster (MARCH). Effort has led to 1 publication so far; another on magnetic nozzles is being prepared.
3) Development of a full wave code. It has been used to simulate the radiation and power absorption in a helicon plasma thruster (HPT). Effort has led to 1 publication so far.
4) Initiation of the development of an advanced, state-of-the-art, time-implicit energy-conserving Particle-in-cell (PIC) code to simulate plasma kinetics, in collaboration with LANL, USA. The incipient code has already been verified against existing 1D simulations of a MN, and a paper has been published.
5) Development of fast plasma diagnostics and data-driven diagnostic techniques. These have been applied to the MN of a HPT in the laboratory, to reveal the azimuthal oscillations present in the plasma. A journal publication is being prepared.
6) Derivation of dispersion relations relevant to the oscillations in the plasma of a MN, including parallel propagation and collisions, to set up an initial theoretical framework to understand the observations of the previous point. A journal publication is being prepared.
7) Development of an experimental setup to validate the magnetic arch plasma acceleration concept. Using two cylindrical plasma sources in parallel, with opposing polarities, the formation of a plasma jet in the resulting magnetic arch has been validated. A publication is being prepared.
8) Application of data-driven analysis techniques (in particular, symbolic regression with modified SINDy algorithms) to obtain simple models of the oscillations in a Hall effect plasma thruster. A publication is being prepared.
Various PhD thesis have been completed or are ongoing in the framework of the project. Additionally, BSc and a MSc theses have been concluded as part of ZARATHUSTRA. A set of publicly-available trainings have been produced and recorded on video, with ancillary slides/lecture notes, to train the current PhD/MSc/BSc students and those to come (
https://ep2lab.github.io/trainings(opens in new window)).
Project dissemination and outreach has included several presentations in international congresses, the organization of one international Workshop in Madrid, and several outreach actions in Madrid’s week of science, European researcher’s night, interviews in National and regional media, local seminars, and posts in the project twitter account (
https://twitter.com/ERC_Zarathustra(opens in new window)). All the results of the project are linked from the project website (
https://erc-zarathustra.uc3m.es/(opens in new window)).
