full warp : plasma engine passes initial test

[tocqueville]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4527696.stm

Roger Walker, Esa
The European Space Agency (Esa) says initial testing of a new plasma drive for spacecraft has been a success.
The 'double layer thruster' is a new kind of ion drive which could give much more power than existing versions.

It works by accelerating charged particles between two layers of argon plasma, gas where the atoms have been stripped of electrons.

Esa says it has 'proven the principle', and will proceed with simulations and perhaps bigger prototypes.

Esa already uses an ion drive on its Smart 1 Moon probe, and the US space agency Nasa deployed one on Deep Space 1, which flew out to Comet Borrelly in 2001.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Heh. I am watching Star Trek right now. :^D

[shawn703]

2. I'm not a scientist

But would you still need chemical engines to reach escape velocity? And would it save enough fuel for a craft to reach a destination like Mars, land, and take off again? (I thought that was one of the issues with sending astronauts to Mars - that they'd probably have to stay there.) I'm just not sure how much fuel is needed during the actual trip for course corrections etc., since I would think once you got up to speed you could cut off the engines and coast all the way there.

[havocmom]

4. Could such engines eventually be built at an orbiting station?

Would that get around the problem of thrust to lift off this planet at least?

[eppur_se_muova]

5. You'd need chemical (or nuclear) for liftoff/landing.

Ion rockets provide sustained, low thrust for a *very* long period of time. For liftoff from anything larger than a very minor asteroid, they do not provide enough thrust. A Mars mission would need chemical rockets at departure and arrival, but could cut the transit time drastically with an ion rocket.

In principle, spacecraft could be launched in segments and assembled in orbit. There were several "practice runs" aimed at this idea in the Apollo program. And of course the whole Space Station is a project of this type. But the assembly has to be pretty foolproof. If something goes wrong, it can be a disaster -- long way from the repair shop.

As for the problem of sending fuel to Mars, check out Zubrin's "Mars Direct" approach. Would cost a lot less than NASA's approach, probably have a better chance of success.

http://www.marssociety.org/about/faq.asp

[punpirate]

3. Incidental, but I picked up a textbook...

... published in the `60s at a book fair in the very early `70s on hot ion drives. Thought, "gee, this is interesting, wonder if this will be a spacecraft drive some day?"

Guess it will be, from this. :)