Halo is a miniaturized centerline-cathode Hall-effect thruster designed to bring high-performance, high-delta-V, launch-vehicle-compliant propulsion to CubeSats. Using magnetic fields to focus and accelerate a plasma to generate thrust, Halo operates on a flexible range of inert gases and storable propellants – without combustion.

The current version of Halo has demonstrated operation between 75 and 400 W with thrust ranging from 4 to 34 mN and Isp from 700 s to 1500 s. Designed for CubeSats, Halo fits within a 7.5 cm diameter by 4 cm long volume (excluding mission unique gas fittings), and weighs just 0.6kg.

Halo is designed to work with xenon, krypton, or iodine propellants. Our current testing has been performed with xenon with a demonstration of iodine performance slated for late 2017. The thruster will perform a demonstration flight using iodine in 2019 as part of the NASA Tipping Point program.