The Effect of Designing Parameters on Performance of Pulsed Plasma Thruster

The performance of pulsed plasma thruster (PPT) is influenced by electric and structural parameters. For the low thrust efficiency of pulsed plasma thruster, the correlation between the designing parameters and performance was studied through theoretical analysis and experimental investigation. The result shows that the thrust and discharge current are closely related. The change of the electrode gap and discharge energy in pulsed plasma thruster will influence the thrust and discharge current significantly. The experimental result implies considerable information to the design of an optimized thruster.