HiVHAc Hall propulsion system
HiVHAc (High Voltage Hall Accelerator) is NASA Glenn’s 4-kW-class xenon Hall propulsion development for science and exploration missions. The integrated system combines a Hall thruster, a power processing unit developed by Colorado Power Electronics and a VACCO xenon flow control module. In NASA’s 2016 integration work, the power processor and feed module demonstrated discharge initiation, throttling and closed-loop control of discharge current by adjusting anode xenon flow. The engineering-model power processor reached efficiencies as high as 95 percent; that value describes electrical conversion in the PPU, not the thruster’s conversion of input power into jet power. The same PPU was also tested with an SPT-140 thruster, a separate test configuration.
Identity
- Aliases
- High Voltage Hall AcceleratorHiVHAc
- Domains
- spaceflight
- Identity Level
- integrated-system
- Kind
- integrated-propulsion-system
- Name
- HiVHAc Hall propulsion system
- Status
- development
Details
- Description
- HiVHAc (High Voltage Hall Accelerator) is NASA Glenn’s 4-kW-class xenon Hall propulsion development for science and exploration missions. The integrated system combines a Hall thruster, a power processing unit developed by Colorado Power Electronics and a VACCO xenon flow control module. In NASA’s 2016 integration work, the power processor and feed module demonstrated discharge initiation, throttling and closed-loop control of discharge current by adjusting anode xenon flow. The engineering-model power processor reached efficiencies as high as 95 percent; that value describes electrical conversion in the PPU, not the thruster’s conversion of input power into jet power. The same PPU was also tested with an SPT-140 thruster, a separate test configuration.
- Developers
- Electric Specs
- Input Power Max
- …
- Propellants
- xenon
Links
- Official Url
- https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20170000947
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- August 15, 2026 at 02:41:24 UTC
- Updated Time
- October 29, 2026 at 15:21:54 UTC
Other
- Sources
- Accessed Date
- 2026-08-14
- Note
- NASA Glenn's paper defines HiVHAc as a 4 kW-class integrated propulsion system consisting of a Hall thruster, power-processing unit, and xenon flow-control module, with integrated closed-loop testing.
- Publisher
- NASA Technical Reports Server
- Title
- Performance of a High-Fidelity 4kW-Class Engineering Model PPU and Integration with HiVHAc System
- Accessed Date
- 2026-08-14
- Note
- NASA Glenn documents the HiVHAc development system, its 4 kW Hall-thruster class, and mission rationale for lower-cost electric propulsion.
- Publisher
- NASA Technical Reports Server
- Title
- Integration Tests of the 4 kW-class High Voltage Hall Accelerator Power Processing Unit with the HiVHAc and SPT-140 Hall Effect Thrusters
- Accessed Date
- 2026-10-29
- Note
- Published 25 July 2016: component identities, 4 kW discharge supply, closed-loop integration and up to 95 percent PPU efficiency; the efficiency is not a whole-thruster performance measurement.
- Publisher
- NASA Technical Reports Server
- Title
- Performance of a High-Fidelity 4kW-Class Engineering Model PPU and Integration with HiVHAc System