STUDY ON VACUUM ARC THRUSTER TECHNOLOGY

Micro-nano satellite is more and more widely used in space missions for its simplicity，cost-effective and reliability.Traditional propulsion system is not suitable for such satellite platform.Vacuum Arc Thruster（VAT）is one kind of electric propulsion device which generates plasma jet utilizing the discharge between cathode and anode in vacuum，it is the ideal kind of electric propulsion suitable for micro-nano satellite.This kind of propulsion has the advantages of high specific impulse，high efficiency，low mass and using solid propellant.In this paper，system schemes and experimental results for coaxial and ring vacuum arc thruster are presented.Numerical simulations are carried out for ring electrode vacuum arc thruster.The affects of the magnetic field on the thruster’s performance are studied using PIC method，including the influence of the magnetic field on the plasma density distribution and ion velocity.Experimental tests include electric parameter measurement，ion velocity measurement and tiny thrust measurement，the testing results indicate that the vacuum arc thruster has good performance.