Photo of NASA Glenn’s Hall ThrusterHall effect thrusters (HETs) are widely used in space propulsion systems due to their high thrust-to-power ratio, high specific impulse, high efficiency, and simple structure. However, partial plasma confinement is fundamental to Hall Thrusters Physics and leads to a variety of instabilities such as Modified Two Stream Instability and Electron Cyclotron Drift Instability that negatively impact the efficiency and overall performance of the thrusters. In this study, we numerically solve the general dispersion relation for Hall thrusters to better understand these instabilities and improve the design process.
