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Performance and Thermal Characterization of the NASA-300MS 20 kW Hall Effect ThrusterNASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate is sponsoring the development of a high fidelity 15 kW-class long-life high performance Hall thruster for candidate NASA technology demonstration missions. An essential element of the development process is demonstration that incorporation of magnetic shielding on a 20 kW-class Hall thruster will yield significant improvements in the throughput capability of the thruster without any significant reduction in thruster performance. As such, NASA Glenn Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory collaborated on modifying the NASA-300M 20 kW Hall thruster to improve its propellant throughput capability. JPL and NASA Glenn researchers performed plasma numerical simulations with JPL's Hall2De and a commercially available magnetic modeling code that indicated significant enhancement in the throughput capability of the NASA-300M can be attained by modifying the thruster's magnetic circuit. This led to modifying the NASA-300M magnetic topology to a magnetically shielded topology. This paper presents performance evaluation results of the two NASA-300M magnetically shielded thruster configurations, designated 300MS and 300MS-2. The 300MS and 300MS-2 were operated at power levels between 2.5 and 20 kW at discharge voltages between 200 and 700 V. Discharge channel deposition from back-sputtered facility wall flux, and plasma potential and electron temperature measurements made on the inner and outer discharge channel surfaces confirmed that magnetic shielding was achieved. Peak total thrust efficiency of 64% and total specific impulse of 3,050 sec were demonstrated with the 300MS-2 at 20 kW. Thermal characterization results indicate that the boron nitride discharge chamber walls temperatures are approximately 100 C lower for the 300MS when compared to the NASA- 300M at the same thruster operating discharge power.

Document ID
20140017775
Acquisition Source
Glenn Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Kamhawi, Hani (NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH United States)
Huang, Wensheng (NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH United States)
Haag, Thomas (NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH United States)
Shastry, Rohit (NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH United States)
Soulas, George (NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH United States)
Smith, Timothy (NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH United States)
Mikellides, Ioannis (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Hofer, Richard (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
December 30, 2014
Publication Date
October 6, 2013
Subject Category
Spacecraft Propulsion And Power
Report/Patent Number
GRC-E-DAA-TN11609
IEPC-2013-444
Meeting Information
Meeting: International Electric Propulsion Conference (IEPC 2013)
Location: Washington, DC
Country: United States
Start Date: October 6, 2013
End Date: October 10, 2013
Sponsors: Electric Rocket Propulsion Society, George Washington Univ.
Funding Number(s)
WBS: WBS 272725.04.02.02.02.03
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
High power
Hall thrusters
Electric propulsion

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