After being exposed to the full power VASIMR exhaust for ~5 seconds, several plasma diagnostics can be seen glowing red hot after the shot, even with the interior lights on! Based on the color of these glowing sensors, we estimate the sensor temperature to be ~1000 degrees C. The plasma exhaust temperature is ~1000000 degrees C. Ad Astra Rocket Companys VASIMR® VX-200 rocket prototype reached its highly-coveted 200 kW maximum power milestone at 11:59 am (CST) September 30th 2009 in tests conducted at the companys Houston laboratory. The DC power trace actually exceeded the design requirement by 1 kW and exhibited the clear signature of a well established plateau at peak power. The achievement comes after an intense experimental campaign that began in April 2009 when the engine was fitted with a powerful low temperature superconducting magnet, a critical component that enables VASIMR® to process large amounts of plasma power. The electrical power processing is accomplished using high efficiency, 95%, solid state RF generators built by Nautel Ltd of Halifax, Canada. Demonstration of a 200 kW capability was required to validate, with full scale performance data, the design of the VF-200-1 already underway. The VX-200 turns out to exceed the expected power density of VF-200-1 by about 25%, so this is a robust demonstration of the technology. The VF-200-1 is the first engine that the company plans to fly in space, and it is presently working with NASA to effectuate inspace …
Plasma ion flux instrumentation being put to use in the exhaust plume of the Ad Astra Rocket Company’s VASIMR VX-100 plasma rocket. Additional plasma is created along magnetic field lines intercepting the collectors’ surface as secondary electrons are flung back upstream. Video Rating: 3 / 5
Question by : Can a fusion drive engine be made from a ion-drive tuned to emit 500 keV protons and a supply of 11-Boron?
For rocket propulsion. The alpha particles in the product could be used to generate electric power, too.
Best answer:
Answer by Search first before you ask it No. But a fusion reactor could power a plasma-ion engine.
video for embedding at scitech.quickfound.net JPL story: www.jpl.nasa.gov PASADENA, Calif. – A new video from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft takes us on a flyover journey above the surface of the giant asteroid Vesta. The data obtained by Dawn’s framing camera, used to produce the visualizations, will help scientists determine the processes that formed Vesta’s striking features. It will also help Dawn mission fans all over the world visualize this mysterious world, which is the second most massive object in the main asteroid belt… You’ll notice in the video that Vesta is not entirely lit up. There is no light in the high northern latitudes because, like Earth, Vesta has seasons. Currently it is northern winter on Vesta, and the northern polar region is in perpetual darkness. When we view Vesta’s rotation from above the south pole, half is in darkness simply because half of Vesta is in daylight and half is in the darkness of night . Another distinct feature seen in the video is a massive circular structure in the south pole region. Scientists were particularly eager to see this area close-up, since NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope first detected it years ago. The circular structure, or depression, is several hundreds of miles, or kilometers, wide, with cliffs that are also several miles high. One impressive mountain in the center of the depression rises approximately 9 miles (15 kilometers) above the base of this depression, making it one of the highest elevations on all known … Video Rating: 5 / 5
Question by Random Questions: ion drive and vasimr rockets?
I fully understand how each of these systems operates and I don’t want to get into detail about it, but I wish to know some other information about them. The first is i know that they could travel longer than a conventional rocket but are they faster then the shuttle and by how much? The second is suppose I use a mass driver or a rail gun type launch to get the craft going and then turn on the ion drive will it continue at that speed(don’t take newtons 1 law into affect) or will it add on to the speed of the craft soon after the launch? Finally would a vasimr rocket work inside the earths atmosphere under gravity and air or does it not have enough thrust( same applies to the ion drive)?
Best answer:
Answer by eelfins The thing about the vasimr is that it’s variable: if you open the choke it gets a lot of thrust with little efficiency. If you narrow it you get a lot of efficiency with little thrust. Lots of thrust is needed in low orbits in order to capitalize on gravitational energy, but in open space high-efficiency is required because there is no gravitational sling-shot. I don’t think a vasimr could be launched from earth’s surface, it would most likely have to be built in orbit.
**Although the UARS satellite tracking website is down, you can still see when it is set to pass over YOUR location, just enter the zipcode and voila.. www.spaceweather.com —————————- It was brought to my attention that the live magnetosphere site is also not giving live updates, it is froze whereas it usually plays a live animation with current data. Hopefully that becomes resolved as well, hmm. www2.nict.go.jp The live-tracker for the UARS (hopefully it comes back online): www.n2yo.com NASA text updates on UARS trajectory: www.n2yo.com Planetary Defense list of Mitigation Techniques: planetarydefense.blogspot.com Search youtube for “ion beam shepherd” —– Video Rating: 4 / 5
More at: scitech.quickfound.net The Challenges of Getting to Mars: Transporting a Mars Rover 11.16.11 A look at getting the Curiosity rover from its birthplace at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. www.jpl.nasa.gov Spacecraft Cruise vehicle dimensions (cruise stage and aeroshell with rover and descent stage inside): Diameter: 14 feet, 9 inches (4.5 meters); height: 9 feet, 8 inches (3 meters) Rover name: Curiosity Rover dimensions: Length: 9 feet, 10 inches (3.0 meters) (not counting arm); width: 9 feet, 1 inch (2.8 meters); height at top of mast: 7 feet (2.1 meters); arm length: 7 feet (2.1 meters); wheel diameter: 20 inches (0.5 meter) Mass: 8463 pounds (3893 kilograms) total at launch, consisting of 1982-pound (899-kilogram) rover; 5293-pound (2401-kilogram) entry, descent and landing system (aeroshell plus fueled descent stage); and 1188-pound (539-kilogram) fueled cruise stage Power for rover: Multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator and lithium-ion batteries Science payload: 165 pounds (75 kilograms) in 10 instruments: Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer, Chemistry and Camera, Chemistry and Mineralogy, Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons, Mars Descent Imager, Mars Hand Lens Imager, Mast Camera, Radiation Assessment Detector, Rover Environmental Monitoring Station, and Sample Analysis at Mars Launch Vehicle Type: Atlas V 541 Height with payload: 191 feet (58 meters) Mass, fully fueled, with … Video Rating: 5 / 5
Music – Info Overload_Vilthermurpher_Amber Ambient_Sweden_1995 Eugen Sänger (22 September 1905 – 10 February 1964) was an Austrian-German aerospace engineer best known for his contributions to lifting body and ramjet technology. Nationality German Work Significant advance lifting body and ramjet Early career Sänger was born in the former mining town of Preßnitz (Přísečnice), Chomutov (flooded by the Preßnitz dam in 1974) in Bohemia, at that time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He studied civil engineering at the Technical Universities of Graz and Vienna. As a student, he came in contact with Hermann Oberth’s book Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (“By Rocket into Planetary Space”), which inspired him to change from studying civil engineering to aeronautics. He also joined Germany’s amateur rocket movement, the Verein für Raumschiffahrt (VfR – “Society for Space Travel”) which was centered on Oberth. Sänger made rocket-powered flight the subject of his thesis, but it was rejected by the university as too fanciful. He was allowed to graduate when he submitted a far more mundane paper on the statics of wing trusses. Sänger would later publish his rejected thesis under the title Raketenflugtechnik (“Rocket Flight Engineering”) in 1933. In 1935 and 1936, he published articles on rocket-powered flight for the Austrian journal Flug (“Flying.”) These attracted the attention of the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM, or “Reich Aviation Ministry”) which saw Sänger’s ideas as a … Video Rating: 5 / 5
