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New Ion Engine Being Tested
Dr Cool writes "A new design of spacecraft ion engine has been tested by the European Space Agency which dramatically improves performance over present thrusters and marks a major step forward in space propulsion capability. Ion engines are a form of electric propulsion and work by accelerating a beam of positively charged particles (or ions) away from the spacecraft using an electric field. ESA is currently using electric propulsion on its Moon mission, SMART-1. The new engine is over ten times more fuel efficient than the one used on SMART-1."
Not really, what the extra grids are doing are focusing the beams more so that they actually proceed through the grid rather than hitting it. Ions hitting the grids and causing them to collapse over time is the primary failure mode for an ion thruster, so being able to focus it more seems to allow more power to be pumped into it so that the stream is accelerated faster. I guess more grids might allow you to focus it more, but I'd guess that its a diminishing returns thing. I'm doing research with these thrusters (trying to show a particular fluid simulation, which is particularly good with parallel processing, is valid), especially for the reasons the article talks about with the testing. I think im going to try this multiple grid situation and see how it acts later.