Spectral characterization of an educational Hall Effect Thruster operation on argon propellant*

An educational SPT-type Hall Effect Thruster (HET) was built by a team of students form several MA colleges [1]. Test operation on Ar and Kr propellants was previously attempted  [2] at the Northeastern University Plasma Laboratory inside the 10 m³ vacuum chamber with ~10,000 L/s pumping capacity using the infrastructure developed for the BHT-200 HET [3]. Kr operation was successful, unlike Ar that failed. We have recently achieved a spike mode with Ar and quantified plasma composition and exhaust velocity. The broad EUV-VIS spectrum reveals the presence of neutral atoms and various ions. The Doppler spectroscopy of the strong Ar⁺ ion emission lines was performed using the high-resolution system [4]. The collected educational thruster data are presented, analyzed and compared to the industrial HET results.