Predicting Hall thruster operational lifetime with computational models

A combination of the use of a kinetic plasma code and a molecular dynamics simulation method is presented for Hall thruster channel wall erosion modeling over time. The kinetic plasma model simulates the thruster channel plasma of an SPT-100 thruster to calculate the ion flux to the walls. The molecular dynamics model simulates the sputtering of boron nitride to calculate sputter yields. A comparison of sample erosion profiles with experimental data is performed.