Hall-E
The Ion Propulsion team at KXR aims to research, design, manufacture, and test electric propulsion systems, with a focus on argon-fueled hall thrusters. Hall thrusters are a type of electric propulsion system that generates plasma by trapping electrons with a radial magnetic field and accelerating it via an axial electric field.
The team is currently working on their second thruster, a Hall-Effect Thruster named Hall-E. Hall-E began development in 2023 and has been in iterative development since the first testing campaign in Spring 2026. The thruster is planned to have a final testing campaign in July 2026, once final improvements are made.
Once this testing campaign concludes, the development of a new thruster, named PegaZeus (PZ-1), will begin in the Fall 2026 Semester. This ambitious new thruster will improve significantly upon the Hall-E design, with new dimensions, a new propellant diffuser, and the development of a hollow cathode, a specialized electrode widely utilized in the electric propulsion industry.
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