Performance Characterization of Micro-Cathode Arc Thruster (uCAT)

Abstract

A torsional thrust stand mass balance has been used to test a new con guration of a vacuum arc thruster named micro-cathode arc thruster (mCAT). The motivation for this work was to measure the performance of mCAT based on magnetic eld augmentation. The mCAT was red in a quasi-steady state mode to ensure that a measurable thrust stand de ection was produced. The impulse produced was measured by ring the thruster fourteen times at a frequency of 50 Hz. This measurement was performed multiple times with varying magnetic eld strengths applied. The average thruster impulse was 7.2 0.2 x 10 Ns. Based on the results of average thruster impulse, it was found that an applied magnetic eld leads to an increase in thrust by a factor of ten. The e ciency was also investigated based on the impulse data. It was found that applied maximum magnetic eld (0.3 T) leads to a thruster e ciency increase of around ve times.