A Hall Effect Thruster is an ion engine used in satellites and spacecraft once in orbit. Through Olin Plasma Engineering Lab, I have helped with the mechanical design of the first Hall Effect Thruster to be designed, built, and fired by a fully undergraduate team. My focus on this Hall Effect Thruster was the gas diffuser. Our gas diffuser allows us to increase the time the gas spends in the channel, in theory, increasing our ionization rate. Through testing, we found that we did not have an even distribution of plasma. I designed the next iteration of the diffuser with more outlet holes to prevent this and more distributed heating.
This year, I am leading the mechanical design of our next Hall Effect Thruster. We are working on increasing the manufacturability of our design, testing a new magnetic circuit, and trying new diffuser designs.
