A cluster array of two High Power Helicon (HPH) thrusters has been built in-house at UW Advanced Propulsion Laboratory to produce high energy, collimated plasma beams for in-space propulsion and space debris removal applications. Advancements have been made to pre-ionization source, radio-frequency antenna design, source tube geometry, and electromagnet locations. The system has been optimized to include downstream magnetic nozzles, to improve overall system performance. Finite element method magnetics (FEMM) was used to simulate the magnetic topology. An Argon propellant system fed gas into the HPH thrusters. Preliminary results focused on the use of non-invasive diagnostics, i.e. optical emission spectroscopy and high speed imaging camera. The system was optimized by varying the power, propellant flow rate, and applied magnetic field intensity. Measured results and discussion are presented in this paper.
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