Vacuum arc thruster

Have you ever played with a toy rocket that you launch into the air? Well, a vacuum arc thruster is kind of like a rocket, but it works in space where there is no air.

The vacuum arc thruster is a special type of rocket engine that uses electricity to make a hot plasma (which is like a gas made of charged particles) that shoots out of the back of the rocket. This makes the rocket go forward in the opposite direction.

The way it works is kind of like when you rub a balloon on your hair and it makes your hair stand up. When the electricity runs through the thruster, it creates a lot of heat and energy that makes some of the metal on the thruster turn into plasma.

Once the plasma is made, it shoots out of the back of the rocket really fast, pushing the rocket forward at super fast speeds.

Is it cool to think about how we can use electricity and plasma to make things like space rockets work? Pretty cool, huh?