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VX-200
The Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) is an electrothermal thruster under development for possible use in spacecraft propulsion. It uses radio waves to ionize and heat an inert propellant, forming a plasma, then a magnetic field to confine and accelerate the expanding plasma, generating thrust. It is a plasma propulsion engine, one of several types of spacecraft electric propulsion systems. The VASIMR method for heating plasma was originally developed during nuclear fusion research. VASIMR is intended to bridge the gap between high thrust, low specific impulse chemical rockets and low thrust, high specific impulse electric propulsion, but has not yet demonstrated high thrust. The VASIMR concept originated in 1977 with former NASA astronaut Franklin Chang-Díaz, who has been developing the technology ever since. Design and operation VASIMR is a type of electrothermal plasma thruster/electrothermal magnetoplasma thruster. In these engines, a neutral, in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plasma Propulsion Engine
A plasma propulsion engine is a type of electric propulsion that generates thrust from a quasi-neutral Plasma (physics), plasma. This is in contrast with ion thruster engines, which generate thrust through extracting an ion current from the Plasma (physics), plasma source, which is then accelerated to high velocities using grids of anodes. These exist in many forms (see electric propulsion). However, in the scientific literature, the term "plasma thruster" sometimes encompasses thrusters usually designated as "Ion thruster, ion engines". Plasma thrusters do not typically use high voltage grids or anodes/cathodes to accelerate the charged particles in the plasma, but rather use currents and potentials that are generated internally to accelerate the ions, resulting in a lower exhaust velocity given the lack of high accelerating voltages. This type of thruster has a number of advantages. The lack of high voltage grids of anodes removes a possible limiting element as a result of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Specific Impulse
Specific impulse (usually abbreviated ) is a measure of how efficiently a reaction mass engine, such as a rocket engine, rocket using propellant or a jet engine using fuel, generates thrust. In general, this is a ratio of the ''Impulse (physics), impulse'', i.e. change in momentum, ''per mass'' of propellant. This is equivalent to "thrust per massflow". The resulting unit is equivalent to velocity. If the engine expels mass at a constant exhaust velocity v_e then the thrust will be \mathbf = v_e \frac . If we integrate over time to get the total change in momentum, and then divide by the mass, we see that the specific impulse is equal to the exhaust velocity v_e . In practice, the specific impulse is usually lower than the actual physical exhaust velocity inefficiencies in the rocket, and thus corresponds to an "effective" exhaust velocity. That is, the specific impulse I_ in units of velocity *is defined by* : \mathbf = I_ \frac , where \mathbf is the average thrust. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plasma Propulsion Engine
A plasma propulsion engine is a type of electric propulsion that generates thrust from a quasi-neutral Plasma (physics), plasma. This is in contrast with ion thruster engines, which generate thrust through extracting an ion current from the Plasma (physics), plasma source, which is then accelerated to high velocities using grids of anodes. These exist in many forms (see electric propulsion). However, in the scientific literature, the term "plasma thruster" sometimes encompasses thrusters usually designated as "Ion thruster, ion engines". Plasma thrusters do not typically use high voltage grids or anodes/cathodes to accelerate the charged particles in the plasma, but rather use currents and potentials that are generated internally to accelerate the ions, resulting in a lower exhaust velocity given the lack of high accelerating voltages. This type of thruster has a number of advantages. The lack of high voltage grids of anodes removes a possible limiting element as a result of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemically Inert
In chemistry, the term chemically inert is used to describe a substance that is not chemically reactive. From a thermodynamic perspective, a substance is inert, or nonlabile, if it is thermodynamically unstable (negative standard Gibbs free energy of formation) yet decomposes at a slow, or negligible rate. Most of the noble gases, which appear in the last column of the periodic table, are classified as inert (or unreactive). These elements are stable in their naturally occurring form (gaseous form) and they are called inert gases. Noble gas The noble gases (helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon) were previously known as 'inert gases' because of their perceived lack of participation in any chemical reactions. The reason for this is that their outermost electron shells (valence shells) are completely filled, so that they have little tendency to gain or lose electrons. They are said to acquire a noble gas configuration, or a full electron configuration. It is now ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arcjet Rocket
An arcjet rocket or arcjet thruster is a form of electrically powered spacecraft propulsion, in which an electrical discharge ( arc) is created in a flow of propellant (typically hydrazine or ammonia). This imparts additional energy to the propellant, so that one can extract more work out of each kilogram of propellant, at the expense of increased power consumption and (usually) higher cost. Also, the thrust levels available from typically used arcjet engines are very low compared with chemical engines. When the energy is available, arcjets are well suited to keeping stations in orbit and can replace monopropellant rockets. Aerojet MR-510 series arcjet engines are currently used on Lockheed Martin A2100 satellites using hydrazine as a propellant, providing over 585 s average specific impulse at 2 kW. In Germany, researchers at the University of Stuttgart's Institute of Space Aviation Systems have been working with arcjets for years and have developed various hydrogen-powered arc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NEXT (ion Thruster)
The NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) project at Glenn Research Center is a Ion thruster#Gridded electrostatic ion thrusters, gridded electrostatic ion thruster about three times as powerful as the NASA Solar Technology Application Readiness, NSTAR used on Dawn (spacecraft), Dawn and Deep Space 1 spacecraft. It was used in Double Asteroid Redirection Test, DART, launched in 2021. Glenn Research Center manufactured the test engine's core ionization chamber, and Aerojet Rocketdyne designed and built the ion acceleration assembly. Purpose NEXT affords larger delivered payloads, smaller launch vehicle size, and other mission enhancements compared to chemical and other electric propulsion technologies for Discovery Program, Discovery, New Frontiers program, New Frontiers, Mars Exploration Program, Mars Exploration, and Flagship Program, Flagship outer-planet exploration missions. Design The NEXT engine is a type of solar electric propulsion in which thruster systems use the el ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyclotron
A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest Lawrence in 1929–1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, and patented in 1932. Lawrence, Ernest O. ''Method and apparatus for the acceleration of ions'', filed: January 26, 1932, granted: February 20, 1934 A cyclotron accelerates charged particles outwards from the center of a flat cylindrical vacuum chamber along a spiral path. The particles are held to a spiral trajectory by a static magnetic field and accelerated by a rapidly varying electric field. Lawrence was awarded the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics for this invention. The cyclotron was the first "cyclical" accelerator. The primary accelerators before the development of the cyclotron were electrostatic accelerators, such as the Cockcroft–Walton generator and the Van de Graaff generator. In these accelerators, particles would cross an accelerating electric field only once. Thus, the energy gained by the particles was limited by the maximum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of Texas At Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2023, it is also the largest institution in the system. The university is a major center for academic research, with research expenditures totaling $1.06 billion for the 2023 fiscal year. It joined the Association of American Universities in 1929. The university houses seven museums and seventeen libraries, including the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and the Blanton Museum of Art, and operates various auxiliary research facilities, such as the J. J. Pickle Research Campus and McDonald Observatory. UT Austin's athletics constitute the Texas Longhorns. The Longhorns have won four NCAA Division I National Football Championships, six NCAA Division I National Baseball Champions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thermalisation
In physics, thermalisation (or thermalization) is the process of physical bodies reaching thermal equilibrium through mutual interaction. In general, the natural tendency of a system is towards a state of equipartition of energy and uniform temperature that maximizes the system's entropy. Thermalisation, thermal equilibrium, and temperature are therefore important fundamental concepts within statistical physics, statistical mechanics, and thermodynamics; all of which are a basis for many other specific fields of scientific understanding and engineering application. Examples of thermalisation include: * the achievement of equilibrium in a plasma. * the process undergone by high-energy neutrons as they lose energy by collision with a moderator. * the process of heat or phonon emission by charge carriers in a solar cell, after a photon that exceeds the semiconductor band gap In solid-state physics and solid-state chemistry, a band gap, also called a bandgap or energy ga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electron Cyclotron Resonance
Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) is a phenomenon observed in plasma physics, condensed matter physics, and accelerator physics. It happens when the frequency of incident radiation coincides with the natural frequency of rotation of electrons in magnetic fields. A free electron in a static and uniform magnetic field will move in a circle due to the Lorentz force. The circular motion may be superimposed with a uniform axial motion, resulting in a helix, or with a uniform motion perpendicular to the field (e.g., in the presence of an electrical or gravitational field) resulting in a cycloid. The angular frequency (''ω'' = 2''π'' ''f'' ) of this '' cyclotron motion'' for a given magnetic field strength ''B'' is given (in SI units) by : \omega_\text = \frac. where e is the elementary charge and m_\text is the mass of the electron. For the commonly used microwave frequency 2.45 GHz and the bare electron charge and mass, the resonance condition is met when ''B'' = . F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megahertz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base units is 1/s or s−1, meaning that one hertz is one per second or the reciprocal of one second. It is used only in the case of periodic events. It is named after Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857–1894), the first person to provide conclusive proof of the existence of electromagnetic waves. For high frequencies, the unit is commonly expressed in multiples: kilohertz (kHz), megahertz (MHz), gigahertz (GHz), terahertz (THz). Some of the unit's most common uses are in the description of periodic waveforms and musical tones, particularly those used in radio- and audio-related applications. It is also used to describe the clock speeds at which computers and other electronics are driven. The units are sometimes also used as a representation o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
