The ISTP, managed by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, develops advanced propulsion technologies to replace conventional propulsion systems for space science missions within and beyond Earth orbit. In support of this program, NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) developed a 6-8 kW Hall thruster and redesigned a moderate specific impulse, 50 kW device based on the existing NASA-457M Hall thruster. The HIVHAC Development Program was competitively selected under NASA’s In-Space Propulsion Technologies Cycle 2 NASA Research Announcement (NRA) solicitation. The Cycle 2 NRA solicited for “kW Solar Electric Propulsion System technology” which offered mission benefit compared to the 4000 second NEXT ion system for an interplanetary robotic exploration deep space design reference mission (DSDRM). GRC performed mission analysis that compared Hall thruster technology to the NEXT ion thruster system for Neptune and Saturn DSDRM’s. This analysis indicated that a Hall propulsion system, used for the Earth escape and interplanetary transfer, offers a trip time reduction or increase in payload for these space science DSDRM’s. Based on this analysis, GRC proposed to develop a 6-8 kW Hall thruster that operated at specific impulses ranging from 2200-2800 seconds. In May 2003 the HIVHAC Development Program was selected for award. This NASA GRC led effort is being performed with collaboration with Aerojet Redmond Rocket Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the University of Michigan.

The FY04 development of an engineering model, 50 kW Hall thruster builds on 7 years of high-power Hall thruster research. The Advanced Space Transportation Program (ASTP) sponsorship of high-power Hall thruster development began in 1997 with the award of a 10 kW Hall thruster contract to TRW, Space Power Inc. and the Keldysh Research Center. Under this contract, the T-220 Hall thruster was delivered to NASA GRC and a performance investigation was conducted in 1998. The program concluded in FY00 following a 1000 hour erosion characterization.3 Sponsorship of high-power Hall thruster development continued with the establishment of the ISTP funded by the Office of Space Science. In 2001, Aerojet Redmond Rocket Center was competitively selected to design a 50 kW Hall thruster as a complementary effort to NASA GRC’s in-house development of the NASA-457M thruster. A contract option for thruster fabrication was exercised and the thruster was delivering to NASA GRC in 2002 and tested in 2003. In FY04, the high-power Hall thruster development funded by the ISTP was refocused on the GRC developed, NASA-457M, 50 kW Hall thruster.