The Course will provide the basics of low
thrust engines: applications and classifications for chemical and electrical
LTE, esothermic and endotermic engines. Thruster Principles, The Rocket
Equation. Specific Impulse.  Thruster
Efficiency.  Monopropellant cold
thrusters, Bi-propellant thrusters, Resistojet.  Design of small thrusters: tank design, feed
systems, catalyst, thrust chamber, nozzle. Electric Propulsion Background and Electric
Thruster Types, Ion Thruster Geometry. Force Transfer in Ion and Hall Thrusters.
Basic Plasma Physics. Coulomb force, Electric Field, Magnetic field, Lorentz
equation, Maxwell’s Equations . Plasma as a Fluid: Conservation Equations.  Diffusion in Partially Ionized Gases.Diffusion
and Mobility Without and Across Magnetic Fields.  Sheaths at the Boundaries of Plasmas: Debye
Sheaths, Pre-Sheaths, Child–Langmuir Sheaths. Generalized Sheath Solution.  Ion Thruster Plasma Generators. DC Discharge
Ion thruster. 0-D Ring-Cusp Ion Thruster Model. Magnetic Multipole Boundaries.  Electron and Ion Confinement.  Power and Energy Balance in the Discharge
Chamber. rf Ion Thrusters. 2-D Computer Models of the Ion Thruster Discharge
Chamber. Ion Thruster Accelerator Grids: configurations and life; Ion Optics
and Perveance Limits. Electron Backstreaming. High-Voltage and Electrode
Breakdown. Hollow Cathodes.

Overview and History of Airbreathing
hypersonic propulsion. Airbreathing engine design and sizing for given mission requirements.
Inlet, combustor and nozzle design. Reighley equation for heat flux in subsonic
and supersonic combustion. Performance. Solid and liquid Propellants.  CFD for ramjet and scramjet applications.