Economic feasibility is critical for realizing Space Solar Power Systems (SSPS), with transportation costs to GEO being a substantial obstacle. Hall thrusters have grown more popular for use in space propulsion due to their exceptional versatility. Because the price of xenon propellant is growing rapidly with supply chain challenges, an alternate propellant like argon is essential. If the performance with argon can be made comparable to that of xenon, construction of SSPS can be made economically viable. This study assesses the correlation between neutral gas temperature and propellant utilization efficiency to evaluate the prospectus of argon propellant Hall thruster. The argon’s propellant utilization efficiency of RAIJIN-66, a 2-kW class Hall thruster, was explored with changing temperature at discharge voltage conditions of 180 V, 200 V, and 230 V. As a result, propellant utilization efficiency decay was monitored, and it showed a greater decrease as the discharge voltage increased. When the discharge voltage was 230 V, propellant utilization efficiency decreased from 39.1% to 24.15% when anode temperature increased from 320 K to 480 K. These observations demonstrate active cooling would be quite attractive especially for argon Hall thrusters to achieve high propellant utilization efficiency for mass transportation, which requiring high discharge voltage.
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