Are there any experimental planes utilizing ion thrusters?… by Tom
I was watching a “documentary” about the “UFO” sightings over Phoenix on Mar 13, 1997 and I was wondering if the lights could be cause by advanced ion thrusters (which are real as you and me) on an experimental aircraft. Is there any known X-planes using ion propulsion or leaks about black budget programs making a ion engine-powered plane?
Best Answer:
Of all the electric thrusters, ion thrusters have been the most seriously considered commercially and academically in the quest for interplanetary missions and orbit raising maneuvers. Ion thrusters are seen as the best solution for these missions as they require very high change in velocity overall that can be built up over long periods of time.
SERT
Several spacecraft have operated with this technology. The first was SERT [3] in the 1970's.
The Hall effect thruster is a type of ion thruster that has been used for decades for station keeping by the Soviet Union and is now also applied in the West: the European Space Agency's satellite Smart 1 used it (Snecma PPS-1350-G). This satellite completed its mission on September 3, 2006, in a controlled collision on the Moon's surface, after a trajectory deviation to be able to see the 3 meter crater the impact created on the visible side of the moon.
On 12 July 2001, the European Space Agency failed to launch their Artemis telecommunication satellite, and left it in a decaying orbit. The satellite's chemical propellant supply was sufficient to transfer it to a semi-stable orbit, and over the next 18 months the experimental onboard ion propulsion system (intended for secondary stationkeeping and maneuvering) was utilized to transfer it to a geostationary orbit. [4]
NASA has developed an ion thruster called NSTAR for use in their interplanetary missions. This thruster was tested in the highly successful space probe Deep Space 1. Hughes has developed the XIPS (Xenon Ion Propulsion System) for performing stationkeeping on geosynchronous satellites. These are electrostatic ion thrusters and work by a different principle than Hall effect thrusters.
Dawn was launched on 27 September 2007 to explore the dwarf planet Ceres and the asteroid Vesta. To cruise from Earth to its targets it will use three Deep Space 1 heritage Xenon ion thrusters (firing only one at a time) to take it in a long outward spiral. An extended mission in which Dawn explores other asteroids after Ceres is also possible. Dawn's ion drive is capable of accelerating from 0-60 mph in 4 days.[5]
The Japanese space agency's Hayabusa, which was launched in 2003 and successfully rendezvoused with the asteroid 25143 Itokawa and remained in close proximity for many months to collect samples and information, is powered by four xenon Ion Engines. It is using xenon ions generated by microwave ECR, and a Carbon / Carbon-composite material for acceleration grid which is resistant to erosion.[6]
LISA Pathfinder is an ESA spacecraft to be launched in 2009. It will not use ion thrusters as its primary propulsion system, but will use both colloid thrusters and FEEP for very precise attitude control - the low thrusts of these propulsion devices make it possible to move the spacecraft incremental distances very accurately. It is a test for the possible LISA mission
In 2003 NASA ground-tested a new version of their ion thruster called High Power Electric Propulsion, or HiPEP. The HiPEP thruster differs from earlier ion thrusters because the xenon ions are produced using a combination of microwave energy and magnetic fields. The ionization is achieved through a process called electron cyclotron resonance (ECR). In ECR, a uniform magnetic field is applied to a chamber holding xenon gas. The small number of free electrons present in the neutral gas orbit around the magnetic field lines at a fixed frequency called the cyclotron frequency. Microwave radiation is applied that is carefully tuned to this frequency, supplying energy to the electrons, which then ionize more xenon atoms through collisions. This process is a highly efficient means of creating a plasma in low density gases. Previously the electrons required were provided by a hollow cathode.
Powered by Yahoo Answers
Comments
Leave a Reply