Transients during stationary plasma thruster start-up

Studies of stationary plasma thruster (SPT) start-up transient have been carried out at various parameters of the discharge power supply electric filter. The nature of the start-up discharge current inrush has been brought to light. It has been shown that discharge of filter capacitor causes a current inrush which duration is about 30 mus and peak value is more than 100 A. A repeated current inrush of several tens of amperes and duration of about 5 ms occurs after a short-term pause. This occurs due to ionization processes inside the thruster discharge chamber. It has been shown that power supply circuit parameters define the time history of the start-up transient. Xenon flow rate value is only a scale factor. When using a separate power supply for the magnetic system, peak value of the discharge current increases because of reduction of the electric circuit inductance. A circuit diagram of the SPT start-up transient electric simulator has been proposed.