Regular Article

Recent progress in research on micro-cathode arc thrusters

¹ School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150001, P.R. China
² Key Laboratory of Aerospace Plasma Propulsion, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150001, P.R. China
³ Beijing Institute of Control Engineering, China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing 100094, P.R. China

^a e-mail: weiliqiu@hit.edu.cn

Received: 16 January 2020
Received in final form: 7 March 2020
Published online: 1 May 2020

Abstract

Micro-cathode arc thrusters have been widely used in micro-nanosatellites owing to their high specific impact, long lifetime, repeatable startup, low thrust and high control precision. Micro-cathode arc thrusters and their derivatives are currently being developed and optimized. The micro-cathode arc thruster can generate plasma stably and efficiently, and form a thrust force under a magnetic field with very low power in pulsed operation mode. This paper reviews the last 20 years of literature on micro-cathode arc thrusters, with a focus on papers published in this field in the last 5 years. In light of the development of the micro-cathode arc thruster and the latest research, the direction of future development and the application of key technologies are reviewed. Future micro-cathode arc propulsion systems are expected to exhibit higher reliability, longer lifetimes, higher specific impact, greater integration and higher thrust and to be operated in various modes.