ELECTRONEGATIVE PLASMA THRUSTER WITH OPTIMIZED INJECTION

摘要

The invention relates to a plasma thruster involving the extraction of a stream of positive ions, characterized in that it comprises: - a single ionisation stage; - means of injecting ionisable gas for said ionisation stage, said means comprising at least first means of injecting a first gas (G1) and second means of injecting an electronegative second gas (G2); - means of creating an electrical field (Pe, RF) so as to cause the gases to ionise in the ionisation stage, said means creating a first zone known as a hot zone in the ionisation stage, whereby the first gas is distributed in the first zone (Z1) known as the hot zone and the second gas is distributed in a second zone (Z2) that is not as hot as the first zone; - first means (40) of extracting a stream of negative ions and second means (50) of extracting a stream of positive ions, which are both connected to the ionisation stage, the extraction of a stream of positive ions and the extraction of a stream of negative ions ensuring that the thruster is electrically neutral.