Method of the electron distribution function calculation in a problem of the kinetic rarefied plasma plume modeling

Abstract

A problem related to the rarefied plasma plume of the stationary plasma thruster (SPT) is considered in the paper. The consideration is conducted fully in terms of kinetics, namely, distribution functions are introduced to describe motion of every plasma component. The system of kinetics equations for the distribution functions should be solved in combination with the Maxwell’s equations. The paper discusses methods for solving the stated problem.