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Due to limited electric power the thrust is much weaker compared to chemical rockets, but electric propulsion can provide thrust for a longer time. [2] Electric propulsion was first demonstrated in the 1960s and is now a mature and widely used technology on spacecraft. American and Russian satellites have used electric propulsion for decades. [3]
The xenon ions are then accelerated by the electric field between the anode and the cathode. For discharge voltages of 300 V, the ions reach speeds of around 15 km/s (9.3 mi/s) for a specific impulse of 1,500 s (15 kN·s/kg). Upon exiting, however, the ions pull an equal number of electrons with them, creating a plasma plume with no net charge.
Plasma properties change rapidly across this boundary, which is known as a current-free electric double layer. The electrical potential is much higher inside the source region than in the exhaust and this serves both to confine most of the electrons and to accelerate the ions away from the source region.
Rocket engines generally produce a high-temperature reaction mass, as a hot gas, which is achieved by combusting a solid, liquid or gaseous fuel with an oxidiser within a combustion chamber. [44] The extremely hot gas is then allowed to escape through a high-expansion ratio bell-shaped nozzle , a feature that gives a rocket engine its ...
A nuclear electric rocket (more properly nuclear electric propulsion) is a type of spacecraft propulsion system where thermal energy from a nuclear reactor is converted to electrical energy, which is used to drive an ion thruster or other electrical spacecraft propulsion technology.
The Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) is an electrothermal thruster under development for possible use in spacecraft propulsion. It uses radio waves to ionize and heat an inert propellant , forming a plasma, then a magnetic field to confine and accelerate the expanding plasma , generating thrust .
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An arcjet rocket or arcjet thruster is a form of electrically powered spacecraft propulsion, in which an electrical discharge is created in a flow of propellant [1] [2] (typically hydrazine or ammonia). This imparts additional energy to the propellant, so that one can extract more work out of each kilogram of propellant, at the expense of ...