Research and development of high-efficiency hall-type ion engines for small spacecrafts

Abstract

Development of Hall thrusters for nano, small and low-power satellites below 100W is expected. In lowering Hall thruster power, the cylindrical-type Hall thruster is more advantage than conventional coaxial-type Hall thrusters. In this study, a very low power cylindrical Hall thruster was designed, and the thruster performance was measured. As a result, a stable operation was achieved even with 10W. The specific impulse and the thrust efficiency are 1570sec and 18.1%, respectively, with 66W. Also, the discharge current oscillation was lower compared SPT-type Hall thruster.