A vacuum arc thruster (VAT) is a form of electric spacecraft propulsion.
It uses a vacuum arc discharge, across an insulator, between two electrodes to produce thrust.
[1] A metal plasma is produced from micrometer-size cathodic spots.
Thus, whereas the insulator is used as propellant in a pulsed plasma thruster, in a VAT the metallic cathode is consumed as propellant.
This space- or spaceflight-related article is a stub.