Abstract
A CubeSat-class micropropulsion system is being developed at the Aerospace Plasma Laboratory, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, called the inline-screw-feeding vacuumarc thruster (ISF-VAT). The ISF-VAT couples a conventional VAT triggerless ignition geometry with an active feeding system that mechanically drives the cathode propellant in a periodic helical motion. The thruster performance is found to be highly regular for at least 700000 pulses, ≈12 h of continuous operation, with good pulse to pulse repeatability. The measured average thrust-to-power ratio is ≈3 μN/W. Observations of the cathode and insulator erosion patterns show that while the cathode electrode geometry is maintained by the feeding system, the ceramic insulator is also being consumed. The maximum insulator erosion rate was determined to be ≈1/7 of the cathode consumption rate. The thruster lifetime is, therefore, determined by the length of the insulator.
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