Year: 2002
Type: article
Abstract: Hall thrusters are an attractive form of electric propulsion that are being developed and implemented to replace chemical systems for many on orbit propulsion tasks on communications satellites.One concern in the use of these devices is the possible damage their plumes may cause to the host spacecraft.Computer models of Hall thruster plumes play an important role in integration of these devices onto spacecraft as the space environment is not easily reproduced in ground testing facilities.In this paper, a hybrid particle-fluid model of a Hall thruster plume is applied to model the SPT-100 thrusters used on the Russian Express satellites.The emphasis of the paper is on making assessment of the model through direct comparison with measurements of ion current density and ion energy distributions taken on board Express spacecraft.These data challenge the model in two ways.First, they represent the first set of Hall thruster plume measurements obtained in space, whereas the computer models have been developed based on measurements taken in ground-based facilities.Second, most of the data measurement locations are several meters from the thruster requiring careful consideration of the plume far-field.
Authors: I. D. Boyd, Lain D. Boyd
Language: English
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4299108801