The basic structure and working principle of ionic liquid thrusters

including the restrictions on particle emission and the commonly used operating regimes

were introduced. The common classification methods of ionic liquid thruster were summarized. The presently wide-used experimental or simulation methods

and the related progress on emission threshold field strength

beam divergence

polydispersive efficiency

long-term working stability and other issues were reviewed to compare and analyze the working conditions suitable for particle emission and more accurate simulation methods. The future research ideas and reference for the improved design

operating regime setting

and performance evaluation of ionic liquid thruster were also presented. Results show that increasing the flow resistance of propellant and array density of emitter is the appropriate means to improve the efficiency and thrust of the ionic liquid thruster

and changing the emitter voltage polarity and increasing the emitter voltage gradually by using the closed-loop control method is the effective way to maintain the thrust and improve the working stability of the thruster.