Direct-Drive System Demonstration for a Low-Power Hall Thruster

A study was conducted to demonstrate a direct-drive system for a low-power hall thruster. The HT-100 Hall thruster was selected for the direct-drive demonstration. The throttling range of the thruster was approximately 100-300 W discharge power, 800-1200 s specific impulse, and 5-12mN thrust, with efficiency up to 35%. The solar array configuration was characterized by a set of four terrestrial solar panels populated by thin-film amorphous silicon solar cells. Investigations revealed that thruster performance and solar array characteristics were closely related in a direct-drive system, making it important to understand which were the factors affecting the solar array I-V curve and how they influenced it. The solar array performance was affected mainly by the irradiance and the cell temperature.