BHT-20K

Designed for high power space missions.
1 Newton of thrust.

With over 100 times the power of our first Hall thruster, the BHT-20K is a massive step forward in Hall Thruster technology. Using an innovative 2.8 cm center mounted cathode and a highly mass-efficient magnetic circuit design, the BHT-20K offers outstanding specific impulse and thrust in a lightweight and compact package.

Tested at the Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) and the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC), the BHT-20K has demonstrated throttling over a range of input power from 5kW to 22 kW. For destinations including the moon, Mars, Venus, or beyond, the BHT-20K is ready to deliver high power space propulsion.

Publications:

Publications with Busek affiliated authors are marked in bold.

Szabo, J., Pote, B., Hruby, V., Byrne, L., Tedrake, R., Kolencik, G., Kamhawi, H., Haag, T., “A Commercial One Newton Hall Effect Thruster for High Power In-Space Missions,” 47th AIAA/ASME/SEA/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, AIAA Paper 2011-6152, San Diego, CA, 31 July – 3 August 2011.

Raitses, Y., Moeller, T., Szabo, J. “AEDC Plume Measurements using Bi-Directional Ion Flux Probes,” 30th International Electric Propulsion Conference, IEPC Paper 2007-334, Florence, Italy, September 17-20, 2007.

Polzin, K., Dawbarn, A., Tatum, K, Crider, D., Brown, M., Moeller, T., Raitses, Y., Szabo, J., Byrne, L, Boyd, I., “Demonstration of High Power Plasma Propulsion Test Capabilities at Arnold Engineering Development Center,” 54th Joint Army-Navy-NASA-Air Force (JANNAF) Propulsion Meeting (JPM)/2nd Spacecraft Propulsion Subcommittee (SPS) Joint Meeting, Denver, CO, May 14-17, 2007.

Szabo, J., McElhinney, S., Pote, B., “Low Mass 20 kW Hall Thruster,” U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, AFRL-PR-ED-TR-2004-0028, July 2004.