Session
Weekend Session 7: Year in Review - Research & Academia
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
The laboratory models of a water-vapor Hall thruster and LaB6 thermionic cathode were developed and tested. To optimize the thruster design to water-vapor propellant, the geometrical investigation was conducted. After testing six different models, the smallest thruster, with an outer diameter of 20 mm, was found to be the most suitable for 100-W class operation. This thruster was able to be operated less than 100 W at 200 V. In addition, the discharge power was suppressed to 200 W even at 300 V. Based on the plume diagnostics, the thrust force of 2.9 mN, specific impulse of 650 s, and anode efficiency of 4.6 % were obtained as a representative performance of this 300 V operating point. After the thruster operation was achieved, the cathode coupling test was conducted to demonstrate electron emission under water-vapor plasma existence. As a result of this experiment, the effective increase in electron current compared to the previous stand-alone tests was confirmed as well as the compatability to the water-vapor plasma plume. On the other hand, the electron emission current has not achieved 100 mA-class yet and the required heating power was predicted over 100 W; thus, further improvement is progressing.
A 100 W-Class Water-Vapor Hall Thruster for Constellations and Space Explorations by SmallSats
Utah State University, Logan, UT
The laboratory models of a water-vapor Hall thruster and LaB6 thermionic cathode were developed and tested. To optimize the thruster design to water-vapor propellant, the geometrical investigation was conducted. After testing six different models, the smallest thruster, with an outer diameter of 20 mm, was found to be the most suitable for 100-W class operation. This thruster was able to be operated less than 100 W at 200 V. In addition, the discharge power was suppressed to 200 W even at 300 V. Based on the plume diagnostics, the thrust force of 2.9 mN, specific impulse of 650 s, and anode efficiency of 4.6 % were obtained as a representative performance of this 300 V operating point. After the thruster operation was achieved, the cathode coupling test was conducted to demonstrate electron emission under water-vapor plasma existence. As a result of this experiment, the effective increase in electron current compared to the previous stand-alone tests was confirmed as well as the compatability to the water-vapor plasma plume. On the other hand, the electron emission current has not achieved 100 mA-class yet and the required heating power was predicted over 100 W; thus, further improvement is progressing.
