
	Where results make sense

Topic: Ion engine

Related Topics

NiL

Rubidium

Lasgo

Kim Christian Beazley

United States foreign policy

Vlaakith

Colonial History of the United States

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Voiceless bilabial plosive

Netherlands Carillon

Baron Aberconway

In the News (Thu 10 Dec 09)

Northern Trust

Marvin Harrison

Peter Chernin

Gary Locke

Match Play

Penelope Cruz

Mickey Rourke

AR Rahman

Danny Boyle

Hugh Jackman

	Deep Space 1: Advanced Technologies: Solar Electric Propulsion FAQ
		Ion propulsion is a technology that involves ionizing a gas to propel a craft.
		Ion propulsion is not of value for missions that require high acceleration, and it often will not be worthwhile for missions that can be done quickly using conventional propulsion systems (such as missions to the moon).
		Because the ion propulsion system, although highly efficient, is very gentle in its thrust, it cannot be used for any application in which a rapid acceleration is required.
	nmp.nasa.gov /ds1/tech/ionpropfaq.html (814 words)

	Ion thruster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Ion thrusters are therefore able to achieve high specific impulse, reducing the amount of reaction mass required but increasing the amount of power required compared to chemical rockets.
		Ion thrusters can deliver one order of magnitude greater fuel efficiency than traditional liquid fuel rocket engines, but are generally constrained to very low thrusts by the available power.
		Ion thrusters have to be kept running a large part of the time to allow the milligee acceleration to build up into something meaningful.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Ion_thruster (1210 words)

	Deep Space 1 ion propulsion starts up
		Engineers believe that the engine probably shut itself off when it was started two weeks ago because of metallic grit or other contamination between the two high-voltage grids at the rear of the advanced engine.
		When the ion engine is running, electrons are emitted from a hollow bar called a cathode into a chamber ringed by magnets, much like the cathode in a TV picture tube or computer monitor.
		The electrostatic force in the ion engine's chamber, however, is much more powerful, causing the xenon ions to shoot past at a speed of more than 100,000 kilometers per hour (60,000 miles per hour), continuing right on out the back of the engine and into space.
	www.jpl.nasa.gov /releases/98/ds1engine.html (729 words)

	Ion Rockets
		The ions can now be accelerated by electrical forces, to velocities much higher than those obtained from a hot gas, but without the need for a high temperature.
		The XIPS ("zips") ion engine developed by the Hughes corporation was tested in the laboratory and then aboard a Russian spacecraft, launched 6 October 1997; it is the one shown on top of this page.
		As with solar sails, solar ion engines are mainly practical in the inner solar system, where ample sunlight is available.
	www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov /stargaze/Sionrock.htm (651 words)

	Spaceflight Now \| Breaking News \| DS1's ion propulsion engine keeps on firing
		Similar ion engines may be used on future space missions, particularly missions to comets and asteroids where the ion engine's high fuel economy is important for precise navigation to the small bodies.
		Engineers partly attribute the secrets to the ion engine's long life to a slight increase in the flow of xenon through the engine early in the testing phase.
		The ion engine is tested for about 75 percent of the time over the two and a half years of the test, Anderson said, with other time spent on running diagnostic tests, and defrosting the xenon propellant that had become frozen in the vacuum system.
	spaceflightnow.com /news/n0104/08ds1 (819 words)

	Ion Engine - Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum
		An important feature of the system is that the ion propellant force must be about twice the sail force which is controlled by varying the kilograms of propellant per second (q) and the average speed of the particles being expelled (Ve).
		Ion engines can and will be used to slow down to whatever the optimal speed is. To slow down from 17500 to 0 depends on the mass of the ship and the propulsion force supplied by the ion engines.
		Ion engines, as well as many other types of electric propulsion, have a very high efficiency when compared to chemical propulsion methods.
	www.bautforum.com /showthread.php?t=22101 (2143 words)

	GPN-2000-000482 - Ion Engine Test Firing
		This image of a xenon ion engine, photographed through a port of the vacuum chamber where it was being tested at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, shows the faint blue glow of charged atoms being emitted from the engine.
		The ion propulsion engine is the first non-chemical propulsion to be used as the primary means of propelling a spacecraft.
		Ion propulsion was first proposed in the 1950s and NASA performed experiments on this highly efficient propulsion system in the 1960s, but it was not used aboard an American spacecraft until the 1990s.
	grin.hq.nasa.gov /ABSTRACTS/GPN-2000-000482.html (277 words)

	ion, in chemistry. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-03)
		Since ordinary matter is electrically neutral, ions normally exist as groups of cations and anions such that the sum total of positive and negative charges is zero.
		When a solution is passed through the column, ions from the solution are exchanged with ions on the resin (see chromatography).
		Although an ion engine does not develop enough thrust to launch a rocket into earth orbit, it is considered practical for propelling one through interplanetary space on long-distance trips, e.g., between the earth and Jupiter.
	www.bartleby.com /65/io/ion.html (777 words)

	Sublight drive - a fictionalized reality
		The H-K ion drive, as it's sometimes called, is used in such ships as the Imperial TIE Fighters (TIE standing for Twin Ion Engine), as well as the A-wing fighters and TIE interceptors, the most powerful sublight drives in the Star Wars legend.
		The ionized gas is then passed through an electric field or screen at the back of the engine and the ion atoms then exit the engine, producing a thrust in the opposite direction.
		Ion propulsion, in fact was given a most thorough space testing with the NASA mission Deep Space 1.
	www.exn.ca /starwars/sublightdrive.cfm (698 words)

	Ion Engine to Open Up the Solar System
		The thrust from the engine is as gentle as the force exerted by a sheet of paper held in the palm of your hand.
		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 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.
	www.physlink.com /News/Index.cfm?ID=2 (787 words)

	Space propulsion breakthrough: new spacecraft ion engine tested
		Ion engines are a form of electric propulsion and work by accelerating a beam of positively charged particles (or ions) away from the spacecraft using an electric field.
		The new experimental engine, called the Dual-Stage 4-Grid (DS4G) ion thruster, was designed and built under a contract with ESA in the extremely short time of four months by a dedicated team at the Australian National University.
		The DS4G ion engine utilises a different concept first proposed in 2001 by David Fearn, a pioneer of ion propulsion in the UK, which solves this limitation by performing a two-stage process to decouple the extraction and acceleration of ions using four grids.
	www.physorg.com /news9786.html (1276 words)

	Fact Sheet - Xenon Ion Propulsion
		The xenon ion propulsion system, or XIPS (pronounced "zips"), is the culmination of nearly four decades of research into the use of electric propulsion as an alternative to conventional chemical propulsion.
		Ions ejected by the Hughes-designed XIPS travel in an invisible stream at a speed of 30 kilometers per second (62,900 miles per hour), nearly 10 times that of its chemical counterpart.
		And, because ion thrusters operate at lower force levels, attitude disturbances during thruster operation are reduced, further simplifying the stationkeeping task.
	www.boeing.com /defense-space/space/bss/factsheets/xips/xips.html (1488 words)

	Electric Propulsion System - The Ion Drive (Ion Engine) - Future Space Propulsion Systems
		As they pass through the ions reach a velocity of 31.5 km/sec and are focused into an ion beam before finally being exhausted out of the back of the spacecraft.
		Ion propulsion is very useful for propulsion systems on planetary missions, as it is able to build up to very high velocities, far greater than chemical propulsion systems.
		Today's work on ion engines is generally based on low power engines, this is due to the inefficiency of current solar-electric power systems.
	www.thespacesite.com /space_electric_propulsion.html (1160 words)

	CNN - Deep Space probe's ion engine working smoothly, NASA says - December 7, 1998
		When controllers sent commands to the engine to turn itself on again last Tuesday, they planned to collect more data on the status of the system but believed it was unlikely the engine would keep running.
		Engineers believe that the engine probably shut itself off when it was first started because of metallic grit or other contamination between the two high-voltage grids at the rear of the advanced engine.
		Deep Space 1 is the first deep-space probe to rely on a solar-powered ion engine for primary propulsion.
	www.cnn.com /TECH/space/9812/07/deep.space.update (532 words)

	New Scientist Breaking News - Powerful ion engine relies on microwaves
		This is because ion engines produce more power for a given amount of propellant, and provide a smooth output rather than intermittent spurts.
		The HiPEP engine differs from earlier ion engines, such as that powering NASA's Deep Space One mission, because the xenon ions are produced using a combination of microwaves and spinning magnets.
		The electricity for the ion engine is slated to come from on-board nuclear fission reactor.
	www.newscientist.com /article.ns?id=dn4412 (577 words)

	Ion propulsion - over 50 years in the making
		April 6, 1999: The ion propulsion system on Deep Space 1 is the culmination of over 50 years of development on electric engine systems in space.
		When the ion engine is running, electrons are emitted from a hollow tube called a cathode.
		He reported that the most imposing problem in the early development of ion engines was proving that injecting electrons could neutralize an ion beam.
	science.nasa.gov /newhome/headlines/prop06apr99_2.htm (2509 words)

	NASA - NASA Glenn Deep Space-1: NASA Glenn Provided Critical Technologies for Deep Space 1 Mission
		Ion propulsion, once only a futuristic technology that for decades catapulted spacecraft through the pages of science fiction novels and movies, uses electrically charged gas as the propellant instead of chemicals like liquid hydrogen and oxygen.
		In 1964, a pair of NASA Glenn ion engines were launched on a Scout rocket from Wallops Island, VA, under the name SERT 1, one of the two thrusters onboard did not work, but the other operated for 31 minutes.
		This ion engine is used to maintain the position of the communications satellite in its proper orbit and orientation.
	www.grc.nasa.gov /WWW/PAO/ds1.htm (1974 words)

	The Incredible Ions of Space Transportation (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-03)
		The principle behind an ion propulsion engine is much the same as what you experience when you pull hot socks out of the clothes dryer on a cold winter day.
		When the ion engine is running, xenon atoms with a positive charge shoot out the back of the engine at a speed of 100,000 km/h (60,000 mph).
		But if an ion engine can be made to run for months or even years, the tiny, constant thrust adds up to substantially reduced flight times.
	spacescience.com /headlines/y2000/ast15jun_1.htm?list (1607 words)

	An Investigation of Ion Engine Erosion by Low Energy Sputtering (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-03)
		Unlike chemical propulsion systems, fundamentally limited in performance by propellant energy density, electric propulsion devices such as ion engines are limited in total deliverable impulse by maximum propellant throughput due to engine wear.
		Although the surface binding energy is a (weak) function of temperature, we show that the sputtering yield is not expected to increase significantly at temperatures typical of ion engine operation.
		A special case of simultaneous surface contamination and erosion occurs during engine ground testing, where carbon is backsputtered on the accelerator grid from the facility.
	www.galcit.caltech.edu /Seminars/Fluids/PastFluids/2000-2001/Duchemin_abs.html (360 words)

	NASA - NASA Successfully Tests Ion Engine
		The HiPEP ion engine was operated at power levels up to 12 kilowatts and over an equivalent range of exhaust velocities from 60,000 to 80,000 meters per second.
		At the rear of the engine is a pair of rectangular metal grids that are charged with 6,000 volts of electric potential.
		The rectangular shape, a departure from the cylindrical ion thrusters used before, was designed to allow for an increase in engine power and performance by means of stretching the engine.
	www.nasa.gov /home/hqnews/2003/nov/HQ_03377_ion_engine.html (656 words)

	New engine powers a new spaceship
		This ion thruster is not for the impatient since it will take one whole day to accelerate the craft by an additional 30 feet per second -- about as fast as it would accelerate after dropping in Earth's gravity for one second.
		The ions are pushed by gas pressure through holes in the positive grid.
		Ions respond to magnetic and electric fields, and these ions are attracted to a positive grid at the back of the firing chamber.
	whyfiles.org /shorties/ion_thruster.html (1034 words)

	BBC - Science & Nature - Space - Ion Engines
		Instead of burning chemical fuels, ion engines are electrically charged and work by ejecting positive ions from the back of the rocket, propelling the spacecraft forwards.
		Future missions for the ion engine could include comet sample returns, observations of the rings of Saturn and a landing on Jupiter's moon, Europa.
		For example, if an ion engine was chosen for the forthcoming Rosetta comet mission in 2011, it could rendezvous with Comet Wirtanen and return samples back home in around five years.
	www.bbc.co.uk /science/space/exploration/futurespaceflight/ionengines.shtml (272 words)

	Deep Space 1: Advanced Technologies: Solar Electric Propulsion
		An ion engine uses this same principle, but the great innovation is in how efficiently this happens.
		A pair of grids in the ion engine, electrified to almost 1300 volts, accelerates the ions to very high speed and shoots them out of the engine.
		Unlike chemical engines, which can be operated for minutes, or in extreme cases, for an hour or so, ion engines can be operated for years.
	nmp.jpl.nasa.gov /ds1/tech/sep.html (646 words)

	ESA - SMART-1 - The magic of ion engines
		The ions that give the engines their name are charged atoms, accelerated by a choice of electric guns.
		An ion engine can go on pushing gently for months or even years - for as long as the Sun shines and the small supply of propellant lasts.
		Other space science missions are expected to use ion engines for complex manoeuvres in the vicinity of the Earth's orbit, including LISA, a mission that which will detect gravitational waves coming from the distant Universe.
	www.esa.int /SPECIALS/SMART-1/SEMLB6XO4HD_0.html (346 words)

	Last ion engine thrust puts SMART-1 on the right track for its Moon encounter
		It is the technology demonstration goal, in particular the first European flight test of a solar-powered ion engine as a spacecraft’s main propulsion system, that gave shape to the peculiar route and duration (13 months) of the SMART-1 journey to the Moon.
		The long spiralling orbit around Earth, which is bringing the spacecraft closer and closer to the Moon, is needed for the ion engine to function and be tested over a distance comparable to that a spacecraft would travel during a possible interplanetary trip.
		The last resonance manoeuvre was on 12 October, during the last major ion engine thrust, which lasted nearly five days, from 10 to 14 October.
	www.innovations-report.com /html/reports/physics_astronomy/report-34980.html (534 words)

	BBC NEWS \| Science/Nature \| Europe's lunar adventure begins
		The experimental engine is scheduled to be switched on on Tuesday.
		Ion drives do not produce the sudden burst of forward momentum you get from a chemical rocket.
		The 1998 US probe Deep Space 1 flew with an ion drive, and there is a European satellite, Artemis, that maintains its orbit with one.
	news.bbc.co.uk /2/hi/science/nature/3136004.stm (1034 words)

	Spaceflight Now \| Breaking News \| Ion engine passes test
		Ion engines used on the proposed Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter spacecraft would draw their power from an on-board space nuclear reactor.
		The ion engines, or electric thrusters, would propel the orbiter around each of the icy worlds orbiting Jupiter -- Ganymede, Callisto and Europa -- to conduct extensive, close-range exploration of their makeup, history and potential for sustaining life.
		The Nexis engine operated at a power level of over 20 kilowatts, nearly 10 times that of the Deep Space 1 thruster, which enables greater thrust and ultimately higher spacecraft velocities for a given spacecraft mass.
	spaceflightnow.com /news/n0312/23jimoengine (1255 words)

	STAR WARS: TIE Fighters (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-03)
		schematics indicate that the engines are in the thick brace between the hull pods, though the positions of the nozzles aren't shown.
		The two ion engine nozzles are in positions corresponding to those of a TIE, but they are broad and cigar-shaped instead of compact and circular.
		The engine glow is a peculiar yellow-blue, which suggests the presence of small and closely spaced sub-elements alternating in temperature between five thousand degrees celcius and several thousand degrees higher.
	www.theforce.net /swtc/tie.html (13525 words)

Try your search on: Qwika (all wikis)