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🚀 Hall Effect Thrusters

An interactive 3D cutaway of a Hall effect thruster where adjusting magnetic field strength, propellant flow, and discharge voltage shows ionized xenon accelerating through crossed E×B fields into a glowing exhaust plume.

Space & Astronomy3DModerate60 FPS

A cutaway of a Hall effect thruster's annular discharge channel, where ionized xenon spirals under a radial magnetic field and accelerates axially under the induced electric field to form a glowing exhaust plume.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

Electrons trapped by the radial magnetic field circulate as a Hall current, building the axial electric field that accelerates heavier xenon ions straight out of the channel — the crossed-field mechanism behind real electric propulsion.

🎮 How to Use

Adjust magnetic field strength, propellant flow, and discharge voltage to see how ion spiral rate, exhaust velocity, and simulated thrust respond. Toggle the field-line overlay and channel cutaway to see inside.

💡 Did You Know?

Hall thrusters have propelled missions like ESA's SMART-1 to the Moon and are used for station-keeping on hundreds of communications satellites, running for thousands of hours on only a few kilograms of xenon.

⚙ Under the hood

Interactive 3D thruster cross-section where adjusting magnetic field strength and propellant flow shows ionized propellant accelerating through crossed electric and magnetic fields to generate simulated thrust.

hall-effect-thrusterion-propulsionspacecraft-propulsionplasma-physicsastronomy

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install