Peculiarities of the propellant flow ionization in the Krypton Stationary Plasma Thrusters with the shifted out acceleration zone

Given paper presents the results of the propellant flow ionization peculiarities study in the discharge with crossed electric and magnetic fields burning in the different scale stationary plasma thruster (SPT) models with the ionization and acceleration layer shifted out of thruster, namely: there were determined the integral characteristics and dependences of the total current of the exhausting ions from thruster operating with Krypton under different operation modes. It is shown that the mentioned ion current and its ratio to the discharge current are typically reduced with increase of the discharge voltage and these trends are different from that ones for the standard SPT's. As result they cause the notable change of the thrust efficiency dependence on the discharge voltage.