Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Space exploration missions require safe, reliable, long-lived power systems to provide electricity and heat to spacecraft and their science instruments. A uniquely capable source of power is the radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) – essentially a nuclear battery that reliably converts heat into electricity. [2]
[13] [14] This early work by GDL has been steadily carried on and electric rocket engines were used in the 1960s on board the Voskhod 1 spacecraft and Zond-2 Mars probe. [ 15 ] The first test of electric propulsion was an experimental ion engine carried on board the Soviet Zond 1 spacecraft in April 1964, [ 16 ] however they operated ...
International Space Station solar array wing (Expedition 17 crew, August 2008).An ISS solar panel intersecting Earth's horizon.. The electrical system of the International Space Station is a critical part of the International Space Station (ISS) as it allows the operation of essential life-support systems, safe operation of the station, operation of science equipment, as well as improving crew ...
Hall-effect thrusters (based on the discovery by Edwin Hall) are sometimes referred to as Hall thrusters or Hall-current thrusters. Hall-effect thrusters use a magnetic field to limit the electrons' axial motion and then use them to ionize propellant, efficiently accelerate the ions to produce thrust , and neutralize the ions in the plume.
Space exploration is about reaching the destination safely (mission enabling), quickly (reduced transit times), with a large quantity of payload mass, and relatively inexpensively (lower cost). The act of reaching the destination requires an in-space propulsion system, and the other metrics are modifiers to this fundamental action.
RTG Space Exploration Timeline. SiGe has been used as a material in RTGs since 1976. Each mission that has used RTG technology involves exploration of far-reaching regions of the solar system. The most recent mission, New Horizons (2005), was originally set for a 3-year exploration, but was extended to 17 years.
This diagram shows the operating sequence of a Medusa propulsion spacecraft (1) Starting at moment of explosive-pulse unit firing, (2) As the explosive pulse reaches the parachute canopy, (3) Pushes the canopy, accelerating it away from the explosion as the spacecraft plays out the main tether with the winch, generating electricity as it ...
In chemistry and atomic physics, an electron shell may be thought of as an orbit that electrons follow around an atom's nucleus. The closest shell to the nucleus is called the "1 shell" (also called the "K shell"), followed by the "2 shell" (or "L shell"), then the "3 shell" (or "M shell"), and so on further and further from the nucleus.