Performance characteristics of a 5 kW laboratory Hall thruster

Abstract

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Effect of Backpressure on Ion Current Density Measurements in Hall Thruster Plumes

“…Haas et al report electron number densities on the same order of magnitude for similar measurements of the P5 plume. 19 This agreement gives confidence in the Hiden system. Figures 11 and 12 show that the ion number density near the nude Faraday probe is two-three times higher for a backpressure of 1.5 × 10 −3 Pa than for 4.8 × 10 −4 Pa.…”

Study on Anomalous Electron Diffusion in the Hall Effect Thruster

“…To show this capability, the P5 HET is considered. The detailed operating conditions and geometry found in the literature are summarized in Table 9 [28].…”

The Air Force Clustered Hall Thruster Program

“…AFRL is collaborating with the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, to construct a high power cluster of 5 kW class P-5 thrusters [5]. These jointly developed thrusters will be delivered to the university in late 2002.…”

“…If a vacuum level of 5xl0" 5 Torr is acceptable for a 1 kW thruster [3], a similar ratio of internal acceleration channel density to background density for a 100 kW thruster would require a background pressure approximately an order of magnitude lower at 5x10~6 Torr (assuming a constant 300 V discharge). The pumping speed of a chamber capable of testing a 100 kW thruster would then have to increase by three orders of magnitude over that required by a 1 kW thruster due both to an increase in propel-lant flow rate and the stricter vacuum requirement.…”