Pulsed hall thruster system

A pulsed Hall thruster system comprising:

• a Hall thruster including an operating electron source, a magnetic circuit, and a discharge chamber;
• a power processing unit for firing said Hall thruster;
• a control unit for operating said power processing unit to provide to said Hall thruster a discharge power pulse of pre-selected duration τ<0.1d3ρ/{dot over (m)} where d is the characteristic size of the thruster, ρ is the propellant density at standard conditions and {dot over (m)} is the propellant mass flow rate;
• and
• a propellant storage and delivery system, responsive to said control unit, for providing a steady state supply of propellant to said discharge chamber for enabling said Hall thruster to produce a discrete output impulse.

A pulsed Hall thruster system comprising:

• a Hall thruster including an operating electron source, a magnetic circuit, and a discharge chamber;
• a power processing unit for firing said Hall thruster;
• a control unit for operating said power processing unit to provide a discharge voltage to said Hall thruster;
• and
• a propellant storage and delivery system, responsive to said control unit, for providing a propellant flow pulse of pre-defined duration τ<0.1d3ρ/{dot over (m)}, where d is the characteristic size of the thruster, ρ is the propellant density at standard conditions and {dot over (m)} is the propellant mass flow rate, to said discharge chamber for enabling said Hall thruster to produce a discrete output impulse.