Zachary W. Henry Ryan Sitler Daniel Sommer Andrew Verdes Drew Russo Chris Morrow Alex Decat Nathan Weinstock Ferdinand Boudreu IV
As part of the early development of a Hall-effect thruster, a type of advanced electric propulsion system, a prototype thruster body was built for the purpose of experimentation. To be as close as pos..
As part of the early development of a Hall-effect thruster, a type of advanced electric propulsion system, a prototype thruster body was built for the purpose of experimentation. To be as close as possible to reality, the prototype was designed and built under the assumption that it would be fireable. As such, it is equipped with a ceramic discharge chamber, as well as with customized electromagnets which use 28 AWG magnet wire and 1010 steel for the cores. The field is measured using Hall sensors for comparison with a mathematical model of the field. Physical systems and mathematical models can be used to iteratively improve one another, so this experiment serves as a beginning to the much larger project of fully developing a fully functional thruster system. Results of this experiment will affect the progress of development, either requiring system modifications or allowing for further system design.
