Monte Carlo simulation of ion movement in plasma beam of stationary plasma thruster

Summary form only given, as follows. Summary form only given. It is shown by means of Monte Carlo method that the performance of a stationary plasma thruster (SPT) depends on the temperature of an entering neutral gas. Calculations are carried out with model and experimental electric, electron temperature, and electron concentration fields for different rare gases (Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe) as working and their different temperatures. It is shown that light weak ionizable rare gases being at lower temperature may reveal the same performance as heavy strong ionizable gases at higher temperature. On this basis the SPT with cooling system is proposed. The features of reactive gases (O/sub 2/ and N/sub 2/) are considered taking into account the possibility of negative ion formation.