starship-design: Farther and Faster out of this World: Glenn Demonstrates High-Power Electric Propulsion

["L. Parker" <lparker@cacaphony.net>]

02-050
For Release: July 9, 2002
Katherine K. Martin
Media Relations Office
216/433-2406
katherine.martin@grc.nasa.gov
Lori J. Rachul
Media Relations Office
216/433-8806
lori.j.rachul@grc.nasa.gov


Farther and Faster out of this World: Glenn Demonstrates High-Power Electric
Propulsion

A giant leap toward enabling high power electric propulsion was recently
demonstrated. With power levels up to 72 kW and nearly 3 Newtons of thrust,
NASA's Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, has designed, built and
successfully tested a 50 kW-class Hall thruster.

Designated the NASA-457M, this new Hall thruster has shown more than a
factor of ten increase in the power and thrust levels over state-of-the-art
Hall systems. "This accomplishment strengthens Glenn's world class
leadership in Hall thruster research and development," asserts Robert
Jankovsky, Hall thruster team lead.

Such a high power propulsion device will revolutionize the next generation
of spacecraft; halving launch costs for ambitious NASA missions, enabling
future NASA missions to other planets, and more than doubling commercial
payload masses to geostationary orbit. Applications for the Hall thruster
include moving heavy payloads and more rapid travel into outer space. When
compared to ion thrusters, Hall thrusters are of greater benefit to
near-Earth orbit missions, because they have greater levels of thrust to
counter the forces of gravity of celestial bodies, like the Earth.

The NASA-457M is the largest Hall thruster ever built and tested. This
effort has significantly enhanced understanding of Hall thruster scaling and
will lead to the use of high power Hall thruster propulsion in future space
missions.

Results and findings of the Hall thruster's recent tests were discussed
yesterday at the 38th American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Joint Propulsion Conference in Indianapolis.

A photograph of the NASA-457M Hall thruster is available online:

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/PAO/pressrel/2002/02-050addm.html