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The PPT propulsion system was tested for 70 minutes on the 14 December 1964 when the spacecraft was 4.2 million kilometers from Earth. [18] The first successful demonstration of an ion engine was NASA SERT-1 (Space Electric Rocket Test) spacecraft. [19] [20] It launched on 20 July 1964 and operated for 31 minutes. [19]
Its Rutherford engines are the first electric-pump-fed engine to power an orbital-class rocket. [17] Electron is often flown with a kickstage or Rocket Lab's Photon spacecraft. Although the rocket was designed to be expendable , Rocket Lab has recovered the first stage twice and is working towards the capability of reusing the booster. [ 18 ]
A pulsed plasma thruster (PPT), also known as a Pulsed Plasma Rocket (PPR), or as a plasma jet engine (PJE), is a form of electric spacecraft propulsion. [1] PPTs are generally considered the simplest form of electric spacecraft propulsion and were the first form of electric propulsion to be flown in space, having flown on two Soviet probes ...
1 1: Mercury Cesium: NASA: NASA Hughes: Space Electric Rocket Test, suborbital (31 min), the first demonstration of an ion engine in space - only the mercury engine by NASA was operated Program 661A Flight B: 29 Aug 1964: 29 Aug 1964: Ion engine: 1: Cesium: USAF: EOS: Suborbital, experimental test (19 min operation) Zond 2: 30 Nov 1964: 14 May ...
The ion engine was first demonstrated by German-born NASA scientist Ernst Stuhlinger, [1] and developed in practical form by Harold R. Kaufman at NASA Lewis (now Glenn) Research Center from 1957 to the early 1960s. The use of ion propulsion systems were first demonstrated in space by the NASA Lewis Space Electric Rocket Test (SERT) I and II. [2]
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 .
The Bussard ramjet is a theoretical method of spacecraft propulsion for interstellar travel.A fast moving spacecraft scoops up hydrogen from the interstellar medium using an enormous funnel-shaped magnetic field (ranging from kilometers to many thousands of kilometers in diameter); the hydrogen is compressed until thermonuclear fusion occurs, which provides thrust to counter the drag created ...
Approximately 35% of the fusion power goes to thrust, 30% to electric power, 25% lost to heat, and 10% is recirculated for the RF heating. [ 4 ] The company's modeling shows that this technology could propel a spacecraft with a mass of about 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) to Pluto in four years, [ 8 ] enabling deep space missions. [ 13 ]