Abstract
There is currently a need for a low power, mass efficient thruster technology to propel small satellites beyond Earth’s sphere of gravitational influence. Current commercially available thrusters do not meet this need. This thesis examines scaling down the Mather type plasma focus device to 0.1 J using scaling parameters optimized for deuterium operation. The scaled design was simulated using the Plasma Focus Radiative Model also known as the Lee Model. The average thrust due to the plasma sheath acceleration when operating at 60 Hz was 0.00735 N. The average thrust from the pinch ion beam was 5*10^(-9) N. This consumes 6 W of power with an energy efficiency of η_e= 0.1%. The specific impulse is about 10,200 s. While the design produces thrust, the contribution of the pinch to the total thrust was lower than anticipated due to no neutron yield. Design optimization is a future possibility as there is a range of variable choice according to the scaling parameters.