A comparative study on the different energy supply modes for a micro-cathodic arc thruster

The energy supply mode of a micro-cathodic arc thruster (mu-CAT) was adjusted based on the charge and discharge characteristics of the energy storage element, and the cathode discharge characteristics of mu-CAT were studied under different energy supply modes. We applied an electrical method to measure the discharge characteristics of mu-CAT, with an enhanced intensified charge coupled device spectrum detector to measure the plasma parameters of mu-CAT, allowing analysis of the internal logic among thruster plasma parameters, arc discharge characteristics, and thruster energy supply mode. The mechanisms of mu-CAT were analyzed and characteristics of accumulated discharge, energy distribution, and ion velocity distribution of thruster were compared under different energy supply modes to obtain the effect of the energy supply mode on the discharge characteristics of the interelectrode of mu-CAT. The results show that the energy supply mode of mu-CAT affected the ionization characteristics and ionization stability of the micro-cathodic arc thruster, causing a multistage ionization difference in the cathode metal target. This would not only affect the propulsion performance of the thruster, but also affect the change of the number of particles in the cathode region in a single discharge cycle.