Research on MPD thrusters has been carried out in the US, the former Soviet Union, Japan, Germany, and Italy. Experimental prototypes were first flown on Soviet spacecraft and, most recently, in 1996, on the Japanese Space Flyer Unit, which demonstrated the successful operation of a quasi-steady pulsed MPD thruster in space. Research at Moscow Aviation Institute, RKK Energiya, National Aerospace University, Kharkiv Aviation Institute, ..., has resolved many problems related to the performance, stability and lifetime of MPD thrusters.
An MPD thruster was tested on board the Japanese Space Flyer Unit as part of EPEX (Electric Propulsion Experiment) that was launched March 18, 1995 and retrieved by space shuttle mission STS-72 January 20, 1996. To date, it is the only operational MPD thruster to have flown in space as a propulsion system. Experimental prototypes were first flown on Soviet spacecraft.