Vacuum arc thruster

A vacuum arc thruster (VAT) is a form of electric spacecraft propulsion. It uses a vacuum arc discharge, across an insulator, between two electrodes to produce thrust.^[1] A metal plasma is produced from micrometer-size cathodic spots. Thus, whereas the insulator is used as propellant in a pulsed plasma thruster, in a VAT the metallic cathode is consumed as propellant.

• Pulsed plasma thruster
• Vacuum arc

• Schein, J.; Qi, N.; Binder, R.; Krishnan, M.; Ziemer, J. K.; Polk, J. E.; Anders, A. (February 2002). "Inductive energy storage driven vacuum arc thruster". Review of Scientific Instruments. 73 (2): 925–927. Bibcode:2002RScI...73..925S. doi:10.1063/1.1428784.
• Chowdhury, Satyajit; Kronhaus, Igal (19 June 2020). "Characterization of Vacuum Arc Thruster Performance in Weak Magnetic Nozzle". Aerospace. 7 (6): 82. arXiv:1912.11645. Bibcode:2020Aeros...7...82C. doi:10.3390/aerospace7060082.

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