Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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 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 .
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 1965: Pulsed plasma thruster: PTFE ...
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 (Zond 2 and Zond 3) starting in 1964. [2]
Atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion, or air-breathing electric propulsion, shortly ABEP, [1] is a propulsion technology for spacecraft, which could allow thrust generation in low orbits without the need of on-board propellant, by using residual gases in the atmosphere as propellant. Atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion could make a new ...
NASA and the U.S. military plan to test a nuclear-powered rocket engine in space as early as 2027, potentially revolutionizing how people travel the cosmos in the coming decades.The two agencies ...
For rocket-like propulsion systems, this is a function of mass fraction and exhaust velocity; mass fraction for rocket-like systems is usually limited by propulsion system weight and tankage weight. [ citation needed ] For a system to achieve this limit, the payload may need to be a negligible percentage of the vehicle, and so the practical ...
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!