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Revolutionary Ion Thruster To Be Tested On International Space Station (abc.net.au)
Three Australian researchers have developed "an ion thruster that could replace the current chemical-based rocket propulsion technology, which requires huge volumes of fuel to be loaded onto a spacecraft." Slashdot reader theweatherelectric shares this article from the ABC News:
An Australian-designed rocket propulsion system is heading to the International Space Station for a year-long experiment that ultimately could revolutionize space travel. The technology could be used to power a return trip to Mars without refuelling, and use recycled space junk for the fuel... It will be placed in a module outside the ISS, powered, as Dr Neumann describes, by an extension cord from the station. "What we'll be doing with our system is running it for as long as we can, hopefully for the entire year on the space station to measure how much force it's producing for how long."
In the early 2000s "it was basically a machine the size of a fist that spat ions from a very hot plasma ball through a magnetic nozzle at a very high velocity," and the researchers are now hoping to achieve the same effect by recycling the magnesium in space junk.
In the early 2000s "it was basically a machine the size of a fist that spat ions from a very hot plasma ball through a magnetic nozzle at a very high velocity," and the researchers are now hoping to achieve the same effect by recycling the magnesium in space junk.
The Neumann thruster is all about saving launch capacity. Most of the ion thrusters we have now work with e.g. Xenon gas; you have to loft their fuel, and your engine mass budget has to include the material handling for the propellant; tanks, valves, etc.
The idea of the neumann thruster is that your reaction mass comes from a simple sold puck which is gradually ionized; so you immediately win on a bunch of hardware you don't have to lift.
And then, you can use as reaction mass the sorts of stuff which is already up there in orbit. Got some excess second stage, which you've lofted to orbit at ruinous cost? Instead of dropping it back into the atmosphere to burn up, melt it into a puck at the focus of some mirrors, and then use it as reaction mass for a few years.
Space junk turned into valuable fuel. Big win. .... IF it works.
I'd like to see an EM Drive put into testing up there too (yes, yes, yes - I know it's defying the [known] laws of science. No reason not to test it in space since it seems to pass all tests on earth)
Hey maybe we could strap the ION Drive face-to-face with an EM Drive, throw them out the hatch and see who pushes who around!
It's a cylinder. Inside it are rods. The rods have channels in between. There is HEU fuel inside the rods and they are made of high temperature alloys.
For a practical Mars mission, your spacecraft would have 2-4 NERVA engines, each a little smaller than the last. On earth departure, you eject the rods that block the fuel channels and dampen the reaction. Engine is cold and has never been run at that point. You run the engine until the burn is complete. Then separate the hot radioactive mess of an engine that is melting down because when the propellant flow stops, so does the cooling.
That's the simplest way to do it. No nuclear power reactor, it's 1 time use. The pumps, radiation shield, and so forth you don't stage separate, you just eject the core and pressure vessel cannister it is. (so it can be extremely light, under a metric ton)