Characterization of a 6-kW-class Hall-thruster subsystem: basic performance and transient behaviors

To acquire medium-power Hall thruster technology and enable future missions, a 6-kW-class Hall thruster subsystem, consisting of a thruster unit and a power processing & control unit, is under development at Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Onboard the all-electric propulsion satellite Engineering Test Satellite-9 (ETS-9), a limited flight experiment of a Japanese Hall thruster subsystem will be conducted alongside flight-proven Hall thrusters. The subsystem will demonstrate thruster operation at 6 kW for more than 4000 hours, followed by lower-power cyclic operations at 4 kW. To prepare the flight experiment, prototype model thrusters and an engineering model power processing & control unit were devoted to qualification tests on the ground. These tests confirmed mechanical and electrical compatibility with ETS-9 and characterized radiated emissions. An integrated operation using an engineering model (EM) thruster and an EM power processing unit demonstrated software-controlled automatic operations in nominal and off-nominal conditions.