NASA HERMeS Hall Thruster Electrical Configuration Characterization

Abstract

The NASA Hall Effect Rocket with Magnetic Shielding (HERMeS) 12.5 kW Technology Demonstration Unit-1 (TDU-1) Hall thruster has been the subject of extensive technology maturation in preparation for development into a flight ready propulsion system. Part of the technology maturation was to test the TDU-1 thruster in several ground based electrical configurations to assess the thruster robustness and suitability to successful in-space operation. The ground based electrical configuration testing has recently been demonstrated as an important step in understanding and assessing how a Hall thruster may operate differently in-space compared to ground based testing, and to determine the best configuration to conduct development and qualification testing. This paper describes the electrical configuration testing of the HERMeS TDU-1 Hall thruster in NASA Glenn Research Center's Vacuum Facility 5. The three electrical configurations examined were 1) thruster body tied to facility ground, 2) thruster floating, and 3) thruster body electrically tied to cathode common. The HERMeS TDU-1 Hall thruster was also configured with two different exit plane boundary conditions, dielectric and conducting, to examine the influence on the electrical configuration characterization.