Following a review of the basics of electric propulsion, the chapter presents the basics of plasma propulsion applied to electrically propelled spacecraft. The primary motivation for the development of electric thrusters is the increase in the specific impulse which is a measure of the utilization of propellant mass. Electric spacecraft thrusters are generally grouped into three categories based on the main heating mechanism: electro-thermal, electrostatic and electromagnetic thrusters. To heat the propellant, “electro-thermal” thrusters use either resistance heating as in “resistojet” or an electric arc as in an “arcjet” as well as microwaves. In an arcjet, a plasma in the form of a high current arc is created in a small region enclosed between a cathode and an anode. In addition to the hot neutral propellant expelled by a thruster which generates thrust, the exhaust stream not only contains ions and electrons but also sputtered material from the cathode or any grids present in the thruster. Plasma arcs are also used in “electromagnetic” thrusters such as the “pulsed plasma thruster” and the “magnetoplasmadynamic” (MPD) thruster, which is also called the “Lorentz force accelerator”. Thus, the principles governing resistojets and arcjets are discussed in some detail.


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