Back to results
US 6,993,898 B2Granted
Microwave heat-exchange thruster and method of operating the same
AssigneeCalifornia Institute of Technology
InventorKevin Parkin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A propulsion system is disclosed that uses microwaves originating from a ground-based or on-board source to provide energy for propulsion. The energy produces thrust by coupling into a propellant via a microwave absorbent heat exchanger, and by subsequent conversion of the propellant thermal energy to kinetic energy through a thrust converter or nozzle.
Claims19
A thruster for a vehicle comprising:
- a source of propellant;
- a source of microwave energy at or above approximately 35 GHz;
- a heat exchanger for receiving energy from the source of microwave energy and coupled to the source of propellant to heat the propellant to create an expanding medium;
- and a thrust converter coupled to the heat exchanger to generate thrust from the expanding medium.
1 more element
The thruster of claim 11 further comprising an aeroshell for the vehicle and where the thruster forms part of the aeroshell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.