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Arcjet rocket

Arcjets are a form of electric propulsion, whereby an electrical discharge (arc) is created in a flow of propellant (typically hydrazine or ammonia). This imparts additional energy to the propellant, so that one can extract more work out of each kilogram of propellant, at the expense of increased power consumption and (usually) higher cost. Also, the thrust levels available from typically used arcjet engines are very low compared with chemical engines.

When the energy is available, arcjets are well suited to attitude control and can replace monopropellant rockets.

See also: spacecraft propulsion