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Propulsion and Power

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Theses and Dissertations

2019

Hall Effect Thruster

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Characterization And Anomalous Diffusion Analysis Of A 100w Low Power Annular Hall Effect Thruster, Megan N. Maikell Mar 2019

Characterization And Anomalous Diffusion Analysis Of A 100w Low Power Annular Hall Effect Thruster, Megan N. Maikell

Theses and Dissertations

A Busek 100W low-power annular Hall effect thruster was characterized to determine the thruster’s best operating parameter range and to study plasma oscillations within the thruster. These experiments were conducted using xenon gas in the Space Propulsion Analysis and System Simulator chamber at the Air Force Institute of Technology on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The thruster’s performance characteristics were evaluated at nominal discharge voltages and constant total mass flow rate, solenoid current, and keeper current to determine the operating conditions optimizing divergence angle, beam efficiency, and discharge loss. This was accomplished using a Faraday probe to determine the plume’s current …