Studies of Non-conventional Configuration Closed Electron Drift Thrusters
Authors: Y. Raitses, D. Staack, A. Smirnov, A.A. Litvak, L.A. Dorf, T. Graves and N.J. Fisch
Date of PPPL Report: September 2001
Published in: the proceedings of the 37th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit (Salt Lake City, Utah, July 8th -11th, 2001) AIAA Paper #2001-3776.
In this paper we review recent results obtained for segmented electrode and cylindrical Hall thrusters. A low sputtering graphite segmented electrode, placed at the exit of the annular thruster, is shown to affect the plasma potential distribution in the ceramic channel. This effect appears to be correlated with an observed plume reduction compared to a conventional, nonsegmented thruster. In preliminary experiments a 3-cm thruster was operated in the 50-200 W power range. Two operating regimes, stable and oscillating, were observed and investigated.