Patent ID: 7926257

Claim:
A method of producing plasma to be used to propel a mass comprising the steps of: providing a central electrode that has a central electrode radius; providing a diverging electrically conducting nozzle having an annular electrode region adjacent to the central electrode, and forming an annular electrode the nozzle having a minimum radius defined thereby; providing propellant material that forms an ionized gas as an incident of being heated; generating an electric arc between the central electrode and the annular electrode, the electric arc having a current path across a surface portion of the propellant such that the propellant material being heated by the electric arc produces ionized gas; expelling the ionized gas from the nozzle to produce thrust; providing a ratio defined between the minimum radius of the nozzle and the central electrode radius that is between 3.0 and 10.0 to provide thrust with an electromagnetic thrust component that is greater than an electrothermal thrust component; and generating a plasma with a resistance of less than 15 milliohms in the plasma generating section.