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Effects of an Internally-Mounted Cathode on Hall Thruster Plume PropertiesThe effects of cathode position on the plume properties of an 8 kW BHT-8000 Busek Hall thruster are discussed. Experiments were conducted at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in a vacuum chamber suitable for the development and qualification of high-power Hall thrusters. Multi-mode Hall thruster operation was demonstrated at operating conditions ranging from 200-500 V discharge voltage, 10-40 A discharge current, and 2-8 kW discharge power. Reductions in plume divergence and increased near-field plume symmetries were found to result from the use of an internally-mounted cathode instead of the traditional externally-mounted configuration. High-current hollow cathodes developed at JPL utilizing lanthanum hexaboride (LaB6) emitters were also demonstrated. Discharge currents up to 100 A were achieved with the cathode operating alone and up to 40 A during operation with the Hall thruster. LaB6 cathodes were investigated because of their potential to reduce overall system cost and risk due to less stringent xenon purity and handling requirements.
Document ID
20060051684
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Hofer, Richard R.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Johnson, Lee K.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Goebel, Dan M.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Fitzgerald, Dennis J.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2006
Subject Category
Spacecraft Propulsion And Power
Report/Patent Number
AIAA Paper 2006-4482
Meeting Information
Meeting: 42nd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit Sacramento, California, July 9-12, 2006
Location: Sacramento, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: July 9, 2006
End Date: July 12, 2006
Sponsors: American Society for Electrical Engineers, Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc., American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
electric propulsion
hall thruster

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