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Review of alternative propellants in Hall thrusters

Review of alternative propellants in Hall thrusters
Review of alternative propellants in Hall thrusters
Hall thrusters, the most common type of electric propulsion system, typically use xenon as the propellant, given its inertness, its ability to be stored at a high density under pressure, and good thrust to power ratio coupled with a high specific impulse compared to chemical propulsion. However, the number of satellites utilizing electric propulsion units and particularly Hall thrusters is dramatically increasing, resulting in a strain on the availability of xenon propellant in the context of a volatile noble gas market. This phenomenon is seen with the dawn of large satellite constellations and the accelerated launch rate of satellite units, the majority of which now use a Hall thruster as their primary propulsion system. Alternatives to xenon are available in the form of other noble gases, molecular propellants and condensable elements. Such propellants offer certain advantages in terms of specific mission scenarios, or for certain propulsion system sizes. This paper represents a review of alternatives to the conventional xenon propellant for Hall thrusters, providing a comparative study of the most feasible alternatives. Various considerations of using alternative propellants are outlined, and a comprehensive database of experimentally measured Hall thruster performance is com-piled to pair the measured performance using various propellants to the results of a theoretical propellant performance estimation.
Condensable propellants, Electric propulsion, Hall thruster, Molecular propellants, Performance analysis, Propellants, Review, Thruster database
0094-5765
284-306
Tirila, Vlad-George
b72e5d31-b19e-4450-b3f2-a752b235a7ec
Demairé, Alain
a9b4fef2-c7b4-4d7d-ba65-39a3b3c23ddd
Ryan, Charlie N.
3627e47b-01b8-4ddb-b248-4243aad1f872
Tirila, Vlad-George
b72e5d31-b19e-4450-b3f2-a752b235a7ec
Demairé, Alain
a9b4fef2-c7b4-4d7d-ba65-39a3b3c23ddd
Ryan, Charlie N.
3627e47b-01b8-4ddb-b248-4243aad1f872

Tirila, Vlad-George, Demairé, Alain and Ryan, Charlie N. (2023) Review of alternative propellants in Hall thrusters. Acta Astronautica, 212, 284-306. (doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2023.07.047).

Record type: Review

Abstract

Hall thrusters, the most common type of electric propulsion system, typically use xenon as the propellant, given its inertness, its ability to be stored at a high density under pressure, and good thrust to power ratio coupled with a high specific impulse compared to chemical propulsion. However, the number of satellites utilizing electric propulsion units and particularly Hall thrusters is dramatically increasing, resulting in a strain on the availability of xenon propellant in the context of a volatile noble gas market. This phenomenon is seen with the dawn of large satellite constellations and the accelerated launch rate of satellite units, the majority of which now use a Hall thruster as their primary propulsion system. Alternatives to xenon are available in the form of other noble gases, molecular propellants and condensable elements. Such propellants offer certain advantages in terms of specific mission scenarios, or for certain propulsion system sizes. This paper represents a review of alternatives to the conventional xenon propellant for Hall thrusters, providing a comparative study of the most feasible alternatives. Various considerations of using alternative propellants are outlined, and a comprehensive database of experimentally measured Hall thruster performance is com-piled to pair the measured performance using various propellants to the results of a theoretical propellant performance estimation.

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Review_of_Alternative_Propellants_in_Hall_Thrusters_Comment_Response_NC - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 31 July 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 4 August 2023
Published date: November 2023
Additional Information: Funding Information: The authors would like to thank OHB Sweden for supporting this research through Ph.D. funding. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s)
Keywords: Condensable propellants, Electric propulsion, Hall thruster, Molecular propellants, Performance analysis, Propellants, Review, Thruster database

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 483809
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/483809
ISSN: 0094-5765
PURE UUID: 60e2cbe0-ad28-4657-ab8a-24ba68cc8c16
ORCID for Vlad-George Tirila: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2139-2686

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Date deposited: 06 Nov 2023 18:05
Last modified: 07 Jun 2024 01:57

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Contributors

Author: Vlad-George Tirila ORCID iD
Author: Alain Demairé
Author: Charlie N. Ryan

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