Method of vectoring rocket thrust using an electric field

A rocket propulsion system for steering a rocket using an electric field to vector a thrust of the propulsion system, the system comprising:

• a chemical engine configured to oxidize or catalyze a propellant and produce an exhaust jet along a longitudinal jet axis and through an engine nozzle in a direction opposite the rocket thrust;
• one or more pairs of parallel electrodes distributed circumferentially and along an electrode length of the nozzle, each pair arranged laterally for independently straddling the exhaust jet, the nozzle including a region beyond a nozzle exit, and the region beyond the nozzle exit includes the one or more electrode pairs extending outward from the nozzle exit;
• a high-voltage DC supply connectable to the one or more pairs of electrodes and configured to impress a strong electric field across the exhaust jet;
• a steering control configured to set a field intensity of the strong electric field proportional to a desired vectoring angle of the exhaust jet with respect to the longitudinal axis, the control also configured to weight among all of the one or more electrode pairs a pair voltage sent by the DC supply to each of the one or more electrode pairs, the weighting for steering the deflected exhaust to a desired azimuth, the steering control (1) configured to detect an arc across one or more of the electrode pairs, and the steering control (2) configured to adjust the electric field to stop the arc detected across the one or more of the electrode pairs while continuing to set the field intensity of the strong electric field proportional to the desired vectoring angle of the exhaust jet off the longitudinal axis;
• and
• where positively charged particles in the exhaust jet are accelerated laterally toward a negatively charged side of the one or more electrode pairs by the electric field.