Ablative pulsed plasma thrusters (APPTs) are considered as an attractive propulsion option for station-keeping and drag makeup purposes for mass- and power-limited satellites. In order to understand the physical mechanism of APPTs, high-speed camera and optical emission spectroscopy are utilized to investigate the plasma characteristics including the spatial distribution and composition between the electrodes. The plume images and spectra at different times and positions are experimentally recorded, and the spatial distribution, composition, and trajectory of plasmas can be concluded through analyzing them. With the increase of the distance from the ablation surface, two clusters of plasmas near the anode and cathode meet downstream, and the species and density of plasmas tend to be uniform.

中文翻译：

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舌形和扩口电极烧蚀脉冲等离子体推进器等离子体形态的实验研究

消融脉冲等离子推进器（APPT）被认为是用于质量有限和功率受限的卫星的站位保持和阻力补充的有吸引力的推进选择。为了理解APPT的物理机理，利用高速相机和光发射光谱法研究了等离子体特性，包括电极之间的空间分布和组成。实验记录了不同时间和位置的羽流图像和光谱，通过分析可以得出等离子体的空间分布，组成和轨迹。随着距消融表面距离的增加，在阳极和阴极附近的两个等离子体簇在下游相遇，并且等离子体的种类和密度趋于均匀。