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Ion-Propulsion Craft Reaches The Moon
Rollie Hawk writes "It ain't warp speed, but it's exciting new technology at work! The European Space Agency put an ion-propelled rocket into lunar orbit today. While not much horsepower is generated, this method of propulsion could be ideal for travel in near-weightless space as it does not require any combustion to occur."
I think what is most interesting is one of the destinations they're going to visit - the peak of eternal light. Perfect spot for a moonbase - constant sunlight instead of 2 weeks of light and 2 of darkness, water ice likely in nearby craters, and temperatures warm enough that you might be able to get by with passive solar heating alone.
Nobody pushes buttons like our bunny. Big red buttons with labels that say "IGNITION", apparently.
Nature has a better article here.
I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing. -- Thomas Jefferson
Does anyone know how the trip time compared other expeditions? I realize that the longer the flight, the more efficient and speedy this method would be, but I was just trying to get an idea of how fast this thing moves. Could cryogenics and this propulsion technology together land humans on other planets?
[conspiracy] On the other hand, if they can't find it... [/conspiracy]
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Considering that Apollo 8 made it around the moon in less than a week, and this mission took over a year, we're not dealing with lots of speed here.
I'm interested in seeing some comparisons with project cost, energy consumption, etc.
I pity the foo that isn't metasyntactic
Warp 0.0001 more like it, Picard would say"E....N.....G....A....G......E"
it's http://www.esa.int/ not http://www.esa.in/
Although it's called an "ion engine", it's really just the first step in the progression of plasma propulsion. Next up we have the VASIMR which they've been talking about testing on the space station. It can produce slow thrust like an ion engine, or it can produce hard thrust like a chemical rocket. You can power it with solar panels, or you can power it with a nuclear reactor. Eventually, almost the exact same design will be used in fusion rockets, and possibly even antimatter rockets. Then we're in Startrek country with plasma power distribution and ships which you can actually live and work on.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Boing has developed the PAS-5, the world's first commercial satellite with an ion thruster.
It'll be interesting to see, if the Pluto probe ever flies, whether that uses ion propulsion. An ion drive could really make a difference on such a long-haul flight.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
Give me a Bussard Ramjet any day! Well, that and an extremely good handbrake.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Isn't this how TIE Fighers from Star Wars worked? Their wings were solar panels, and TIE stood for Twin Ion Engine.
Brilliant science journalism there. If the smart probe was splitting atoms it wouldn't need solar panels. Not to mention you don't need to split atoms to get ions.
That reminds me of the article that was written on some research I was involved with. We were pulsing cells with high potential electric fields. The field strength was measured in MegaVolts per meter due to a very small gap between the electrodes, the actual voltage was only a kilovolt or so (over a 300ohm load for 5-15 ns). The journalist / engineer-reject thought that megavolts sounded really big and took it upon herself to proclaim that our pulse generators could power a whole city. Moan, groan....
I dont understand why they talk about the probe being (near) weightless in space in the same context as the engine beeing useful in space?
No matter where the probe is, it has got the same mass, and hence the same inertia. Low-thrust engines work good in space because of no friction and often no requirement on quick travel (if it is a non-manned spacecraft). On earth an ion engine would never work for several reasons, one beeing friction against air and ground, but none of them has to do with the weight of the vechile/probe?
Or have I misunderstood something?
So?
So this is crucial on the long haul. With a reaction drive, when you run out of reaction mass, you're done. The craft becomes inert. The trick here is that the saturn V was out fuel within 15 minutes, wheras this craft is still accelerating a year later. Concievably, it could run for another year, or a dozen. (I don't know how much reaction mass it has) An ion drive craft might be made that could with enough reaction mass for an interstellar voyage, where a chemical rocket could not. (esp. considering the mass needed to decelerate at the ead!)
"After hearing the news that the ESA's slow ion-powered probe has entered Moon orbit after a record-long 13 month voyage, NASA has announced that it will launch an even slower probe that propels itself by gliding on a trail of its own mucous."