Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
An ion thruster, ion drive, or ion engine is a form of electric propulsion used for spacecraft propulsion. An ion thruster creates a cloud of positive ions from a neutral gas by ionizing it to extract some electrons from its atoms. The ions are then accelerated using electricity to create thrust.
Current EHD thrusters are far less efficient than conventional engines. [15] An MIT researcher noted that ion thrusters have the potential to be far more efficient than conventional jet engines. [16] Unlike pure ion thruster rockets, the electrohydrodynamic principle does not apply in the vacuum of space. [17]
The gridded ion thruster is a common design for ion thrusters, a highly efficient low-thrust spacecraft propulsion method running on electrical power by using high-voltage grid electrodes to accelerate ions with electrostatic forces.
6 kW Hall thruster in operation at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In spacecraft propulsion, a Hall-effect thruster (HET) is a type of ion thruster in which the propellant is accelerated by an electric field. Hall-effect thrusters (based on the discovery by Edwin Hall) are sometimes referred to as Hall thrusters or Hall-current thrusters.
A plasma propulsion engine is a type of electric propulsion that generates thrust from a quasi-neutral plasma. This is in contrast with ion thruster engines, which generate thrust through extracting an ion current from the plasma source, which is then accelerated to high velocities using grids/ anodes .
Field-emission electric propulsion (FEEP) is an advanced electrostatic space propulsion concept, a form of ion thruster, that uses a liquid metal as a propellant – usually either caesium, indium, or mercury. [1] A FEEP device consists of an emitter and an accelerator electrode.
The aircraft is an example of an ionocraft, which is powered by an ionic wind generated through controlled electrical discharge. The fuselage contains a stack of 54 lithium-polymer batteries. [ 2 ] [ 8 ] With the aid of a power supply unit these deliver a minimum of 20,000 volts of electrical potential, producing enough corona discharge (EMF ...
The NEXT thruster has demonstrated, in ground tests, a total impulse of 17 MN·s; which as of 2010 was the highest total impulse ever demonstrated by an ion thruster. [2] A beam extraction area 1.6 times that of NSTAR allows higher thruster input power while maintaining low voltages and ion current densities, thus maintaining thruster longevity.