I’ve been steadily working up to this for months, and now it’s time – the first full system ignition test of the EHT1 Micro End-Hall Thruster! Join me in the pilot’s seat tomorrow LIVE at 9am EST as I attempt my biggest test yet!
So far, I have run 4 successful preliminary Adamantane ionization tests, the Hall thruster head with a tungsten filament neutralizer, and the GDN1 glow-discharge hollow-cathode neutralizer. Now, I will attempt running the Hall thruster and neutralizer together simultaneously. With this test, I will have full manual control of all the subsystems, and attempt to operate the thruster at it’s nominal full power rating of less than 20W – 9W discharge, 4W neutralizer, and up to 6W for the sublimation fuel delivery system.
If successful, this test has massive implications for not only my work moving forward, but for Hall thruster scaling in general, testing many highly experimental ideas together for the first time – Adamantane fuel, a micro Hall thruster, and a glow discharge neutralizer. Once operational I can proceed to the next phase of development, creating an automated control system for the thruster, as well as testing out a brand new valve design which will be crucial for the next development in the works, and scaling Hall tech down even further to the 5W class!
Link to the YouTube video can be found here: