High Power Hall Thruster Development

The electric power capacity of military and commercial satellites, especially those intended for communication is rapidly increasing. Transponder power requirements and ever increasing number of channels drives commercial satellite designs to 20 kw levels with higher power designs to come. The beneficiary of this trend is electric propulsion, in particular Hall thrusters, who's role is expanding from station keeping to orbit transfer and even orbit raising. The need for high power Hall Thruster has also been identified by the recent USAF Scientific Advisory Board. Stemming from the experience of the Gulf conflict, the Board recommended the development of fast repositioning capability which was recognized by the recent Air Force IHPRPT program focused on 3 to 10 kw Hall thruster technology development. To satisfy these needs, Busek proposes the development of a novel 8 kw Hall Thruster capable of effficient operation over a broad range of Isp and thrust to satisfy the conflicting requirements for high Isp station keeping and high thrust orbit repositioning/raising. In Phase I, a laboratory model 8 kw thruster will be designed, built and tested in our existing facilities. In Phase II, advanced prototype will be built and tested at Busek and at the Air Force Research Laboratory that has expressed strong interest in a collabortive testing program using advanced diagnostic techniques.