Ion engine is new kind of spacecraft propulsion which opens new opportunities of space exploration. It's brand new, innovative and incredibly technically advanced way of providing spaceship movement. It can be a key element in human race to reach the Mars.
First ion engine was built by Glenn Research Center in 1960, but because of inadequate technology, it couldn't be used in space programs until now. It is based on ion propulsion technology which involves ionizing a gas to propel a spaceship. The method, how ion engine works is quite complex. At the beginning atoms of xenon gas, used as fuel, using electricity are deprived to get ionized. Then using electromagnetic field ions, made from atoms before, are accelerated high speed and shot out of the engine. This enormous speed of ions gives a thrust. The xenon ions travel at about 35 km/s. This is about 10 times faster than the exhaust from chemical rocket engines, so the ion propulsion gives about 10 times as much of a push to the spaceship as chemical propellants do. That means that it takes only one tenth as much fuel for an ion engine to work as it does for a chemical propulsion system so it's really economic. Another advantage is a fact that ion propulsion system is compact in comparison to conventional chemical engine system.
Ion engine is not of value for spacecrafts that require high acceleration, and it often will not be worthwhile for space missions that can be done quickly using conventional propulsion systems, such as missions to the moon or space stations, but for missions with high energy requirements such as mission to Mars, the low but steady acceleration of ion propulsion wins out over the less efficient bursts from chemical alternatives.
Interestiong presentation. Ion propulsion seems to be very efficient in terms of long space missions.
ReplyDeleteI know that about 90% of initial traditional rockets weight is fuel and most of this fuel is burned up to escape from earth's gravitational pull. Attached video shows that ion propulsion system is many times more efficient in speed and fuel consumption.
So rocket with ion engine could potentially reach Mars in about 40 days using a fraction of the fuel while chemical rocket would take at least six months to get a man to Mars. Promising technology.
how did you get 40 days?
ReplyDeleteaccording to data in this post, and some external sources, we could not be able to achieve more than 20 000 km/h of average speed with ion engine(real number is much lower because such a ship would accelarate for a very long time, but let stick to this)
distance from earth to mars is 56 mln km - when they are closest to each other
so:
56000000(number of kilometers)/20000(speed in km/h)/24hours ~ 116 days
this gives us something like 6 months..
what did I miss? I might be mistaken, and I would like to check your hypothesis before stating something like this - showing off on some social event ;)
Kuba: is 56 mln km shortest distance between Earth and Mars?
ReplyDeleteWell, I've checked some sources and it seems that average shortest distance is about 54,5 mln km, but it doesn't change much in yours calculations. Anyway 6 months is really impressive result to me.
ReplyDeleteION engines in my opinion ale not the best possible solution by another step in space travel, that opens a lot of new possibilities. Maybe by using them we will soon be able to spend our holidays on moon or other planets in the solar system. But still for now Mars is a great achievement. What is more such engines are much more ecological which now a very important aspect of a new technology. Maybe by the means of some upgrades soon we will be able to use such engines in everyday quicker and cheaper travel on our planet.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Krzysztof, I think we will never achieve "Ultimate Engine", there will be always something new to discover.
ReplyDeleteBut while it might not be perfect any advance in space technology is a good thing.
Very interesting topic. I wonder if this ion engine will actually contribute in placing people on Mars. I will be tracking this topic from now on.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Michał, what if we will invent teleport? or some way to travel faster than light?
ReplyDeleteMaciek,
ReplyDeleteI found the article, where it is said that using new ion engines, called VASIMR it the travel can be reduced to 39 days.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17476-ion-engine-could-one-day-power-39day-trips-to-mars.html
I have to agree with Michał and Krzysztof. Nowadays everything is highly advanced and is still developing very fast. I think that ION engine is maybe not the best idea yet, but it certainly is a great step in space technology.
ReplyDeleteYou said there was an ion engine built in the 60's but was unstable. Is there any modern stable engine, tested an proven it works... or is it just hypothetical? Sometimes it takes long time from paper project to real life working technologies.
ReplyDeleteFor example take a look at cars. I'm pretty sure there are some advanced engine technologies being researched while we still use petrol engines which where invented in the beginning of 19th century.
Did you know that the first internal combustion engine was designed (but never built) in 1680 and was to be fueled with gunpowder. It took more then 100 years to build the first working engine in 1807.
Check the history of internal combustion engines at http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aacarsgasa.htm
wow this just supprised me! very interesting topic. but how to come back? :)
ReplyDeleteWow, I have never heard about such an amazing invention! I am wondering will ion engine have any other uses except space travel? For example could it be used to propel cars or motorcycles? And what would the combustion be?
ReplyDeleteNice post. I just wonder, i read now that NASA is closing theirs Space Ship program, due to lack oof money and technical problems. On the other side we have an ion engine. For me it's not going te be a suprise if China is the next space exploration leader.
ReplyDelete