THE X3 100-KW CLASS NESTED-CHANNEL HALL THRUSTER: MOTIVATION, IMPLEMENTATION AND INITIAL PERFORMANCE by Roland Edward Florenz A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Aerospace Engineering) in The University of … Following the success of the proof-of-concept X2, a 10-kW class two-channel nested Hall thruster the Plasmadynamics and Electric Propulsion Laboratory (PEPL) at the University of Michigan, in collaboration with NASA and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, developed the X3, a 100-kW class three-channel nested Hall thruster.” “The X3 is designed to operate efficiently on both krypton and xenon … It is a Hall thruster — a system that propels spacecraft by accelerating a stream of electrically charged atoms, known as ions. It has been operated at thermal steady state up to 30 kW of power. During the demonstration, it broke records for the maximum power output, thrust and operating current achieved by a Hall thruster to date.
The X3 is a type of ion thruster in which the propellant (most commonly xenon) is accelerated by electric and magnetic fields – in what is known as the “Hall-effect.” While it’s far from space-worthy, NASA is currently testing the 500-pound device at the Glenn Research Facility. The X3 Nested-channel Hall Thruster (NHT), is a 100-kW class thruster developed jointly by the Plasmadynamics and Electric Propulsion Laboratory … This paper provides the description of the development approach and the status of the project.
This is where engines like the X3 Hall-effect thruster comes into play. The X3 is a three channel nested channel Hall thruster, designed to push the boundaries of high power electric propulsion for cargo transfer to Mars and large military assets. The X3 is a Hall-effect thruster operating at over 100 kW of power. University of Michigan Proposed here is a full performance characterization of the X3 Nested-channel Hall Thruster (NHT), a 100-kW class thruster developed jointly by the Plasmadynamics and Electric Propulsion Laboratory (PEPL) at the University of Michigan, NASA, and the Air … Electric propulsion has seen rapid adoption in recent years for commercial, scientific, and exploratory space missions. An X3 thruster that AERO Professor Alec Gallimore's team has been working on in conjunction with NASA in the Plasmadynamics & Electric Propulsion Laboratory in Ann Arbor, MI on April 28, 2015. The X3 thruster was designed by researchers at the University of Michigan in cooperation with NASA and the U.S. Air Force. In recent tests, the X3 shattered the previous thrust record set by a Hall thruster, achieving 5.4 newtons of force compared with the old record of 3.3 newtons. X3 is a Hall-effect thruster—a type of ion thruster in which the propellant (most commonly xenon) is accelerated by electric and magnetic fields. The X3 ion thruster is one of such developments. This is where engines like the X3 Hall-effect thruster comes into play. The X3 is a type of Hall thruster, a design that uses a stream of ions to propel a spacecraft. This thruster, which is being developed by NASA's Glenn Research Center in conjunction with the US Air Force and the University of Michigan, is a scaled-up model of the kinds of thrusters used by the Dawn spacecraft.
An ion thruster is a … The X3 is one of three Mars engine prototypes currently in development. “Very High-Power Hall-Effect Thruster for Exploration”, SITAEL is developing, designing, manufacturing and testing a new 20kW class Hall effect thruster, the HT20k, together with the associated high current hollow cathode, the HC60.