Options for the human exploration of Mars using Solar Electric propulsion

Predicting Hall Thruster Operational Lifetime

“…[1][2][3] One critical aspect of Hall thruster propulsion systems required to support these applications is the operational lifetime of the engine. The primary life-limiting mechanism of magnetic-layer Hall thrusters is erosion of the ceramic discharge chamber by energetic ions contained within the thruster.…”

Performance of Solar Electric Powered Deep Space Missions Using Hall Thruster Propulsion

“…1,2,3,4 When considering Hall thruster technology for interplanetary missions, past works have focused on some sort of Earth escape architecture in which Hall thrusters are used just to spiral out from Earth. 2,5 This architecture enables a smaller launch vehicle to be used, thereby reducing the overall mission costs. A common theme in past interplanetary mission analysis work is that the optimal specific impulses required for deep space missions are too high for Hall thrusters to attain, implying that the performance of the Hall thrusters would be inferior to the higher I sp ion thrusters.…”

Efficiency Analysis of a High-Specific Impulse Hall Thruster

“…After Russian Hall thrusters met western flight qualification standards in the mid-1990's, interest in expanding the specific impulse range developed, mostly towards 3000 s, so that the Hall thruster could more fully bridge the 1000-3000 s specific impulse gap. These activities were motivated by studies indicating the substantial mission benefits for Earth orbiting [2][3][4][5][6][7] and interplanetary [7][8][9][10][11][12] spacecraft if Hall thrusters could operate efficiently at 2000-3000 s specific impulse.…”