[meteorite-list] Ion Engine to Open Up the Solar System

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:08:20 2004
Message-ID: <200209031936.MAA03096_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/technology/features/ion.html

Ion Engine to Open Up the Solar System
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
September 3, 2002

To most vehicle owners, the value of their vehicle decreases while the
mileage on the engine increases. That wisdom does not hold true for NASA's
ion engine, whose odometer continues to spin to the delight of its owners.

This little engine that could has more than made up for its diminutive size,
proving that sometimes less is more -- particularly in space. It was the
first non-chemical propulsion system to be used as the primary means of
propelling a NASA spacecraft.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, a spare of the Deep Space 1 ion engine has been
running continuously since October 1998, setting ion engines on a course to
become the preferred method of propulsion for future missions to explore our
solar system.

Under the Hood

Unlike the fireworks of most chemical rocket engines that use solid or
liquid fuels, the ion engine emits only a faint blue glow of electrically
charged atoms of xenon. Xenon is the same gas found in photo flash tubes and
in many lighthouse bulbs. The thrust from the engine is as gentle as the
force exerted by a sheet of paper held in the palm of your hand. Over the
long haul though, the engine can deliver 10 times as much thrust per
kilogram of fuel than traditional rockets.

Key to the ion technology is its high exhaust velocity. The ion engine can
run on a few hundred grams of propellant per day, making it lightweight.
Less weight means less cost to launch, yet an ion-propelled spacecraft can
go much faster and farther than any other spacecraft.

Visiting a Comet

NASA's Deep Space 1 mission validated 12 high-risk advanced technologies
that had never flown before. Part of NASA's New Millennium Program, Deep
Space 1 was launched in the fall of 1998 as an 11-month mission, but things
went so well that it kept going for a few more years to continue testing its
ion engine while doing a little science.

It successfully completed its primary mission to test these technologies,
then exceeded expectations by cashing in on its frequent flyer miles and
flying by comet Borrelly. It captured the best close-up pictures of a comet
and returned the best science data from a comet ever. The spacecraft was
retired in December 2001, but back home its spare engine kept on running.

Putting the Pedal to the Metal

A team led by Anita Sengupta, engineer and member of JPL's advanced
propulsion technology group, has kept the Deep Space 1 flight spare ion
engine running for 24,750 hours. If it had been an automobile engine instead
of an ion engine, and it was driven for 24,750 hours at 80.5 kilometers per
hour (50 mph), it would have traveled 1.93 million kilometers (1.2 million
miles) without an oil change or tune up. The purpose of the test is to
understand how an ion engine wears, and what phenomena contribute to its
eventual end of life. With this information, NASA scientists can plan
missions better and design improved ion engines.

On August 25, 2002, the ongoing life test of the spare ion thruster passed a
major milestone by processing 200 kilograms (441 pounds) of xenon
propellant. This amount of propellant, in addition to being a nice round
number, is also the amount required for the ion propulsion system on the
Dawn spacecraft, which will be the first science mission to use ion
propulsion.

Dawn is a mission to explore the structure and composition of Ceres and
Vesta, two large asteroids that have remained relatively unchanged since
their formation at the dawn of our solar system. The mission is expected to
launch in 2006.

"This remarkable achievement is a tribute to everyone on the team at JPL who
has performed this enormously difficult test for the past four years," said
Sengupta. "What we have learned and continue to learn from this test will
significantly benefit near-term applications of ion propulsion, as well as
enable the design of the next generation of ion engines for future NASA
space missions."

The test team expects the engine to reach its end-of-life at full power
sometime in November of this year. At that point, the thruster will no
longer be operational at full power, but will still work at the lower power
end of the throttle range.

The ion engine's impressive track record may not only make it the propulsion
system of choice for future missions, such as Dawn and those to return
samples back from Mars, but also for many other potential solar electric
propulsion missions. Those missions will benefit from the higher total
impulse that this test and supporting analyses have made possible.
Received on Tue 03 Sep 2002 03:36:20 PM PDT