Resonant high-voltage pulser for arcjet thruster ignition

A power supply for a thruster, comprising a thruster:

• a power converter for providing an ac voltage;
• a rectifier coupled at the output of said converter for rectifying said ac voltage;
• an output filter inductor connected to said rectifier for smoothing current supplied to said thruster, said filter inductor comprising a secondary winding of a step-up transformer;
• a resonant starting circuit comprising a primary winding of said transformer, a resonant inductance, a storage capacitance, the capacitance of a cable means coupling said filter inductor to said thruster, and switching means, said switching means being activated to release energy stored in said storage capacitance such that the capacitance of said cable means resonates with said inductance and generates a starting pulse to said primary winding, said starting pulse being stepped-up in voltage via said transformer and applied to said thruster for ignition thereof.