Abstract

This paper proposes the application of a highly specialized Turbomolecular Vacuum Pump (TMP) device as a subsystem for electrostatic RF ion thrusters, using D. Fearn’s Dual-Stage 4-Grid design as a cutting-edge example. The TMP turbine’s rotor impulse is transmitted via collisions to neutral gas atoms en route to their ionization, with the goal of producing an anisotropic ion flux that is directed at the extracting screen grid. Operating regimes of such thruster design are hypothesized, and electromagnetic complexities of realization of this concept are identified.