Advancements in Plasma Thruster TechnologyHowever, in that original paper, the thrust was too weak to effectively deorbit some of the larger potential targets for such a mission. These are typically used in fusion reactors to ensure the plasma doesn’t interact with the wall of the magnetic chamber. He saw a 20 percent improvement in the force that the plasma thruster exerted on the target, resulting in a 17.1-millinewton push at the same power level. It also had the added benefit of using argon as fuel, which is cheaper compared with the xenon typically used in plasma thrusters. Someday soon you might even be able to watch a dual-thrust plasma engine blasting away at a large piece of space junk.