Interior Plasma Diagnostics of Arcjet Thrusters

We review past experimental measurements of internal flow properties of arcjet thrusters. These measurements are generally classified as either intrusive, requiring design changes to prototype thrusters, or nonintrusive, and include measurements of cathode temperature, as well as static pressure, flow temperatures (vibrational, rotational, electronic, translational), electron density, and velocity throughout the interior region extending to the exit plane. Comparisons are made to available model predictions. These measurements, performed on a wide range of thrusters, and operating on variety of propellants, indicate that the nozzle plasma flow may be removed from local thermodynamic equilibrium.

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