Kinetic Simulation of Ion Thruster Plume Neutralization in a Vacuum Chamber

The electrical environment of a ground vacuum testing chamber creates facility effects for gridded ion thrusters. For example, it is well known that the plume from the thruster generates current paths that are very different from what occurs in space, and the neutralization of this plume is also different. For reasons such as this, it is important to clarify how the experimental testing environment affects plasma flows, but understanding this effect solely through ground experiments is difficult. To that end, this study utilizes particle-in-cell and direct simulation Monte Carlo methods to simulate xenon beam ions and electrons emitted from a neutralizer. First, we compare simulations conducted within the chamber to those conducted in space, demonstrating that grounded chamber walls increase the electric potential and electron temperature. Next, we investigate the impact of the neutralizer's position and the background pressure on the plume in the vacuum chamber. We find that as the neutralizer position moves closer to the location of maximum potential, more electrons are extracted, resulting in increased neutralization of the plume. We also observe that high background pressure generates slow charge-exchange ions, creating ion sheaths on the side walls that alter ion current paths. Finally, we discuss how the potential at the thruster and neutralizer exits affects the plume. The relative potential of the neutralizer to the vacuum chamber wall is observed to significantly influence the behavior of the electrons, thereby altering the degree of plume neutralization. These findings are shown to be consistent with experimental results in the literature and demonstrate the promise of high-performance simulation

Composite tetraheteroarylenes and related higher cyclic oligomers of heteroarenes produced by palladium-catalyzed direct coupling

Substantial research interests have been focused on cyclic π-conjugated molecules owing to their unique chemical and physical properties. By constructing hybrid aromatic arrays within these cyclic systems, new series of composite macrocycles would be provided. Our group has been studying the construction of such hybrids by adopting the palladiumcatalyzed direct coupling of heteroaromatics. We herein report the synthesis and characterization of thiophene-thiazole composite macrocycles. X-ray diffraction analyses revealed that some of these coupling products exhibit characteristic helical assemblies in the solid state. Additionally, we synthesized a heteroarene-fused cyclooctatetraene composed of four different heteroaryl fragments

Development of the Water Resistojet Propulsion System for Deep Space Exploration by the CubeSat: EQUULEUS

In this study, Water micro-propulsion system AQUARIUS (AQUA ResIstojet propUlsion System) is proposed for 6U CubeSat: EQUULEUS to explore the deep space. AQUARIUS uses storable, safe and non-toxic propellant: water, which allows for downsizing of whole propulsion system to 2U and storing 1.2 kg water. Liquid propellant storage allows design of all propulsion systems below 100 kPa. The waste heat of communication components is reused to cover high latent heat of water. AQUARIUS has 4.0 mN and specific impulse of 70 s by less than 20 W power consumption. Breadboard model was designed and tested successfully. Engineering model is under developments and operations by using whole systems of EQUULEUS. AQUARIUS will be equipped with EQUULEUS scheduled to be launched in 2019 by SLS (Space Launch System)

Synthesis of Benzo[<i>c</i>]thiophenes by Rhodium(III)-Catalyzed Dehydrogenative Annulation

The dehydrogenative annulation of thiophen-2-carboxamides with 2 equiv of alkynes proceeds efficiently in the presence of a rhodium catalyst and a copper oxidant to furnish multiply substituted benzo­[<i>c</i>]­thiophenes. Some of the synthesized benzo­[<i>c</i>]­thiophenes exhibited strong solid-state fluorescence

Indirect SPECT Imaging Evaluation for Possible Nose-to-Brain Drug Delivery Using a Compound with Poor Blood&ndash;Brain Barrier Permeability in Mice

Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging using intravenous radioactive ligand administration to indirectly evaluate the time-dependent effect of intranasal drugs with poor blood-brain barrier permeability on brain drug distributions in mice was evaluated. The biodistribution was examined using domperidone, a dopamine D2 receptor ligand, as the model drug, with intranasal administration at 0, 15, or 30 min before intravenous [123I]IBZM administration. In the striatum, [123I]IBZM accumulation was significantly lower after intranasal (IN) domperidone administration than in controls 15 min after intravenous [125I]IBZM administration. [123I]IBZM SPECT was acquired with intravenous (IV) or IN domperidone administration 15 min before [123I]IBZM, and time&ndash;activity curves were obtained. In the striatum, [123I]IBZM accumulation was clearly lower in the IN group than in the control and IV groups. Time&ndash;activity curves showed no significant difference between the control and IV groups in the striatum, and values were significantly lowest during the first 10 min in the IN group. In the IN group, binding potential and % of receptor occupancy were significantly lower and higher, respectively, compared to the control and IV groups. Thus, brain-migrated domperidone inhibited D2R binding of [123I]IBZM. SPECT imaging is suitable for research to indirectly explore nose-to-brain drug delivery and locus-specific biological distribution