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Farfield Plume Measurement and Analysis on the NASA-300MNASA is developing a 15-kW Hall thruster to support future NASA missions. This activity is funded under the Space Technology Mission Directorate Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Demonstration project. As a part of the development process, the far-field plume characteristics of the NASA-300M, a 20-kW Hall thruster, were studied. The results will be used to study how various aspects of the operation of this thruster affect the overall performance. This data will be used to guide future design work and serve as a baseline for comparison to a magnetically shielded version of the NASA-300M that will be tested in the future. For this study, a far-field Faraday probe was swept in a polar fashion to map the ion current density. An ExB probe (Wien filter), two retarding potential analyzers, and a Langmuir probe were mounted at a fixed location on the thruster axis in the far-field plume. The data reduction method followed recommendations in recent studies by Brown, Reid, and Shastry with modifications that are tailored to the plasma plume environment of high-power Hall thrusters. Results from this and prior testing show that the plume is richer in doubly-charged ions, larger in spatial extent, and capable of greater probe heating than lower power thrusters. These characteristics require special treatment in experimental setup and data analysis, which will be the main focus of this paper. In particular, covered topics will include a new, more accurate, method of integration for analysis of the ExB probe data and effect of secondary electron emission on the Faraday probe data.
Document ID
20130014362
Acquisition Source
Glenn Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Huang, Wensheng (NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Shastry, Rohit (NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Soulas, George C. (NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Kamhawi, Hani (NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Date Acquired
August 27, 2013
Publication Date
April 29, 2013
Subject Category
Spacecraft Propulsion And Power
Report/Patent Number
GRC-E-DAA-TN8663
Meeting Information
Meeting: 60th JANNAF Propulsion Meeting
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Country: United States
Start Date: April 29, 2013
End Date: May 3, 2013
Sponsors: Department of the Air Force, Department of the Navy, Department of the Army, NASA Headquarters
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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