A 10-stage reconnection demonstration launcher

Abstract

A small-scale, 10-stage cylindrical reconnection launcher has been designed, fabricated, and tested. Ten-gram projectiles are accelerated from rest to 317 m/s through the 0.44-m launcher assembly with a projectile kinetic energy to capacitor stored energy efficiency of 9%. Comparison of test results and computer code predictions are presented. Results of these studies have substantiated launcher scaling at small size and have provided a useful test bed for launcher components and diagnostics.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>