Development of an indirect thrust stand based on a cantilever beam

There is a large number of missions that have been or will be launched soon that utilize the electric propulsion (EP), which is considered a key technology for applications in present and future space missions. Accomplishing an accurate measure of the thrust is a key aspect of the laboratory verification of EP systems. In the case of ground conditions and direct measurements, it is complicated to verify the thrusters, especially for some high power (>5 kW) thrusters. For this reason, we have developed an indirect method for measuring thrust. We have carried out an experiment with a Hall effect thruster (operated in the 250 W power range) and compared results against direct thrust measurements. The difficulties in the indirect measurement are analyzed, which provides a basis for the development of indirect thrust measurement.