Engineering:Vacuum arc thruster

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A vacuum arc thruster (VAT) is a form of electric spacecraft propulsion. It uses a vacuum arc discharge, across an insulator, between two electrodes to produce thrust.[1] A metal plasma is produced from micrometer-size cathodic spots. Thus, whereas the insulator is used as propellant in a pulsed plasma thruster, in a VAT the metallic cathode is consumed as propellant.

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