Hall Thruster Development for Japanese Space Propulsion Programs

Further Development of a Micro Hall Thruster

The operation and performance characterization of a micro Hall thruster is presented. The thruster is co-axial in design, with a 0.5 mm channel width and 4 mm outer diameter. The magnetic circuit includes a SmCo permanent magnet generating approximately 0.7 T at the exit plane and 1 T in the channel. Operation with a hollow cathode neutralizer is achieved in the 10-40 W power range with an anod...

Advanced Hall Electric Propulsion for Future In - Space Transportation

The Hall thruster is an electric propulsion device used for multiple in-space applications including orbit raising, on-orbit maneuvers, and de-orbit functions. These in-space propulsion functions are currently performed by toxic hydrazine monopropellant or hydrazine derivative/nitrogen tetroxide bi-propellant thrusters. The Hall thruster operates nominally in the 1500 s specific impulse regime....

Development of a Finite Element-Based Hall-Thruster Model

This paper aims to characterize the Hall-thruster plasmadynamics in the framework of multi uidmodel. Effect of the ionization and the recombination has been included in the present model. Based on the experimental data, a third-order polynomial in electron temperature is used to calculate the ionization rate. The neutral dynamics is included only through the neutral continuity equation in the ...

Predicting Hall Thruster Operational Lifetime

Microspike Based Chemical/Electric Thruster Concept for Versatile Nanosat Propulsion

Small spacecraft that can be categorized as microsats, nanosats, and picosats has a strong potential for wide applications in communication, scientific experiments, and space exploration. In order to combine the advantages of both electric and chemical propulsion thrusters, a dual-mode microspike based thruster concept is proposed. For a fixed input power, it can operate in either a high-Isp mo...