Impact of Internal Cathode Position on Permanent Magnet Hall Thruster Performance

ABSTRACT The Hall thruster is widely used as the propulsion device for low‐orbit satellites, which mainly consists of a thruster and a cathode. Permanent magnet Hall thruster will have a unique internal magnetic separatrix near the axis when the cathode is internal arrangement, which has a new impact on the coupling between the axial position of the internal cathode and the performance of the thruster. This article compares the experimental of a 1500 W permanent magnet krypton propellant Hall thruster with different positions of the internal cathode relative to the internal magnetic separatrix. We find that when the internal cathode is located inside the magnetic separatrix, the thruster has better performance and plume parameters. The highest thrust can reach 72.1 mN, the highest specific impulse is 1964 s, and the highest efficiency is 46.9%. This will provide a reference for the subsequent design of high‐performance internal cathode permanent magnet Hall thrusters.