In this section
@inproceedings{Rosati:2024,
author = {Rosati, Azevedo E and Berhe, M and Jones-Tett, K and Sadler, J and Potrivitu, G-C and Laterza, M and Lim, JWM and Munoz, Tejeda JM and Moloney, R and Knoll, A},
title = {Joint development of a water electrolysis propelled hall effect thruster and LaB6 hollow cathode},
year = {2024}
}
TY - CPAPER
AB - URA Thrusters Ltd., the Imperial Plasma Propulsion Lab, and Aliena Pte. Ltd. present a summary of the results of a collaboration for the development of a 1-2 kW level Hall effect thruster and accompanying LaB6 hollow cathode designed to operate on the products of water electrolysis, i.e. oxygen to the anode and hydrogen to the cathode. A pseudo-2D version of the Imperial Plasma Propulsion Lab’s fully kinetic particle-in-cell code, PlasmaSim, is used to size the discharge channel of the new thruster, termed AQUAHET. In parallel, a 0D plasma-thermal model is used by Aliena to size the emitter and orifice region of the hollow cathode, termed Hydrocat. Preliminary test campaigns are then carried out at both the Imperial Plasma Propulsion Lab and at Aliena’s Jet Propulsion Test Facility. The Imperial preliminarycampaign made use of a retrofitted version of an existing lab model thruster, the WET-HET, to provide benchmarking data to validate the AQUAHET discharge channel sizing. The Aliena preliminary campaign consisted of the thermal and discharge characterization of a prototype Hydrocat and guided improvements to the design of the engineering model cathode. After undergoing qualification and acceptance testing at the Aliena facility, the engineering model Hydrocat was shipped to Imperial for the project’s final joint validation test campaign. The validation test campaign began with operation of the Hydrocat alongside the retrofittedWET-HET. This marked the first time a HET and hollow cathode had been successfully operated with oxygen to the anode and hydrogen to the cathode, a major milestone achievement for the project. Detailed experimental characterization of the AQUAHET andHydrocat operating with oxygen and hydrogen followed. Best oxygen-hydrogen performance is obtained at 1168 ± 1 W for 1.7 mg/s of oxygen, 0.2 mg/s of hydrogen, 2.5 A of magnet current, with 20.0 ± 0.4 mN of thrust, 1216 ± 25 s of specific impulse, and 10.2 &pl
AU - Rosati,Azevedo E
AU - Berhe,M
AU - Jones-Tett,K
AU - Sadler,J
AU - Potrivitu,G-C
AU - Laterza,M
AU - Lim,JWM
AU - Munoz,Tejeda JM
AU - Moloney,R
AU - Knoll,A
PY - 2024///
TI - Joint development of a water electrolysis propelled hall effect thruster and LaB6 hollow cathode
ER -