Performance tests of IPPLM's krypton Hall thruster

Bismuth Hall Thruster I: Simulation-suggested Design and Performance

A two-dimensional radial-axial hybrid simulation of the xenon-fueled Stanford Hall Thruster has been adapted to model a bismuth-fed thruster with varying channel geometry. The simulation treats the electrons as a quasi-one-dimensional fluid and the neutrals and ions as discrete superparticles advanced using a particle-in-cell (PIC) approach. Since experimental data of the electron cross-field m...

Predicting Hall Thruster Operational Lifetime

Energy Analysis of a Hall Thruster Cluster

In an effort to understand the technical issues related to using a cluster of Hall effect thrusters to accomplish missions requiring very high-power electric propulsion systems, testing of four Busek BHT-200-X3 thrusters has begun at both the Air Force Research Laboratory and the University of Michigan. Two separate instruments, the parallel-plate electrostatic energy analyzer and the retarding...

Numerical investigation of a Hall thruster plasma

The dynamics of the Hall thruster is investigated numerically in the framework of a one-dimensional, multifluid macroscopic description of a partially ionized xenon plasma using finite element formulation. The model includes neutral dynamics, inelastic processes, and plasma–wall interaction. Owing to disparate temporal scales, ions and neutrals have been described by set of time-dependent equat...

Hybrid-PIC Simulation of a Hall Thruster

Although several operational codes are available for the prediction of plume dynamics of Hall thrusters and their interactions with spacecraft surfaces, their coverage of the range of physical phenomena involved and their ability to model complex geometries and material combinations has tended to be fairly restricted. We have initiated the development of a more comprehensive suite of models int...