Hall thruster research
began independently in the United States and
Russia in the 1960s. Electric propulsion
efforts in the United States mainly focused
on gridded ion thrusters until NASA started
a Hall thruster program at the NASA Lewis
Research Center (now Glenn Research Center)
in the 1990s. Research began after mission
analyses showed that Hall thrusters had
near-optimal exhaust velocities and a
favorable thrust-to-power ratio for
near-Earth applications and would enable
current and future missions. Research on
performance, life, and other parameters of
Hall thrusters began with the SPT–100 in
1993 and the D–55 TAL in 1994. Over 100
Hall thrusters have been used for propulsion
in space.
