Discharge Characteristics Test of Self-excited LHT-60 Hall Thruster under Variable Operating Conditions

The LHT-60 Hall thruster,with a diameter of 60 mm,was developed by the Lanzhou Institute of Physics for the mission requirements of orbit keeping and end-of-life orbit raising in low orbit internet constellation.In order to study the discharge characteristics of the LHT-60 Hall thruster under variable operating conditions,the experimental study of the operating characteristics was carried out at a discharge voltage of 200 to 350 V and a mass flow rate of 1.1 to 2.0 mg/s under self-excitation mode.The test results show that the thruster can operate stably under various operating conditions,with a thrust of 8.3 to 35.1 mN,anode specific impulse of 759 to 1 787 s,efficiency of 14.5% to 46.4%,power of 183 to 684 W,thrust-to-power of 36.5 to 56.5 mN/kW,current utilization efficiency of 64.2% to 76.1%,mass utilization efficien-cy of 62.2% to 81.1%,beam divergence angle 58.2°to 61.4°.The ion current density decreases along the thruster axis and diffuses along the radial bipolar.The research results can be applied to support the performance optimization and upgrading of the Hall thruster for orbit keeping and end-of-life orbit raising in our country for the low-orbit internet constellation.