Parametric studies of the Hall Thruster at Soreq

An electric propulsion program was initiated at Soreq a few years ago, aiming at the research and development of advanced Hall thrusters for various space applications. The Hall thruster accelerates a plasma jet by an axial electric field and an applied radial magnetic field in an annular ceramic channel. A relatively large current density (> 0.1 A/cm2) can be obtained, since the acceleration mechanism is not limited by space charge effects. Such a device can be used as a small rocket engine onboard spacecraft with the advantage of a large jet velocity compared with conventional rocket engines (10,000-30,000 m/s vs. 2,000-4,800 m/s). An experimental Hall thruster was constructed at Soreq and operated under a broad range of operating conditions and under various configurational variations. Electrical, magnetic and plasma diagnostics, as well as accurate thrust and gas flow rate measurements, have been used to investigate the dependence of thruster behavior on the applied voltage, gas flow rate, magnetic field, channel geometry and wall material. Representative results highlighting the major findings of the studies conducted so far are presented