Development of KM-5 Hall effect thruster and its flight testing onboard GEO spacecraft “Express-A4”

The paper presents the outcomes of development of Keldysh Research Center (KeRC) KM-5 Hall effect thruster and experience obtained from the in-orbit exploiting of the thruster onboard Reshetnev's Scientific and Production Association of Applied Mechanics (NPO PM) “Express-A4” GEO communication spacecraft (SC). KM-5 is a multimode thruster with operational power range from 1 to 2.5 kW in contrast to other thrusters applied in space missions. It has high thrust characteristics. It makes possible solution of orbit raising tasks to geostationary orbit (GEO) for medium and heavy weight SC in addition to tasks of station keeping for geostationary SC already being solved by Hall-effect thrusters. Furthermore, a thruster with such performance can be an efficient choice as a main engine for small interplanetary probes.