Mass Flux Measurements in the Plume of a Pulsed Plasma Thruster

Evaluation of the plasma velocity with a Langmuir probe and correlating it to the pressure measurements allowed the time resolved evaluation of the mass flux contained in the plume. It was found that the mass flux in the first plasma wave is smaller than the one in the second wave. The total mass contributing to the impulse bit was found to be smaller than 25% of the total mass loss.