Thrust Performance in Hall Thruster with Pulsating Operation

Abstract

An innovative engine, designated “Volterra,” has been developed and the thrust performance, thrust, beam divergence angle, and ion energy distribution function were investigated using a 1 kW class magnetic-layer-type Hall thruster developed at Kyushu University. The thrust of this engine is superior to that of the thruster with 150 V constant voltage operation, but the ion energy distribution function is wider. Plume divergence is almost the same as for the thruster with 150 V constant voltage operation.