Posted on 10/28/2017 1:10:22 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Not only would engines that are capable of achieving a great deal of thrust using less fuel be cost-effective, they will be able to ferry astronauts to destinations like Mars and beyond in less time.
This is where engines like the X3 Hall-effect thruster comes into play. This thruster, which is being developed by NASA’s Glenn Research Center in conjunction with the US Air Force and the University of Michigan, is a scaled-up model of the kinds of thrusters used by the Dawn spacecraft. During a recent test, this thruster shattered the previous record for a Hall-effect thruster, achieving higher power and superior thrust.
Hall-effect thrusters have garnered favor with mission planners in recent years because of their extreme efficiency. They function by turning small amounts of propellant (usually inert gases like xenon) into charged plasma with electrical fields, which is then accelerated very quickly using a magnetic field. Compared to chemical rockets, they can achieve top speeds using a tiny fraction of their fuel.
However, a major challenge so far has been building a Hall-effect thruster that is capable of achieving high levels of thrust as well. While fuel efficient, conventional ion engines typically produce only a fraction of the thrust produced by rockets that rely on solid-chemical propellants.
...
In recent tests, the X3 shattered the previous thrust record set by a Hall thruster, achieving 5.4 newtons of force compared with the old record of 3.3 newtons. The X3 also more than doubled the operating current (250 amperes vs. 112 amperes) and ran at a slightly higher power than the previous record-holder (102 kilowatts vs. 98 kilowatts). This was encouraging news, since it means that the engine can offer faster acceleration, which means shorter travel times.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
And how many HP is Newton?
5.4 Newtons is about 19.29 ounces of constant thrust. That doesn’t sound like much but if the thrust is constant in a vacuum it can add up to a whole lot of speed over a period of time.
I’m older than dirt but it used to be 1 hp = 746 nm/sec.
I think
Caddis the Elder
The mass of the electrical power source will be a limit factor to the overall vehicle performance. Nuclear or +400 sq. meters of solar collector for Mars operation at rated power?
Maybe you could add a nuclear reactor to it to power the magnetic field.
5.4 newtons of force isn't much. Still, in space, where there's no friction loss, 5.4 newtons applied to one ton of mass for a week gives it another 1600 mph of velocity.
Can it do the quarter mile in sub 13?
NASA first developed nuclear propulsion from 1965-1972 under the NERVA Project.
Scientists were so ecstatic with the results they boasted of sending astronauts to Mars in 1980 and Saturn in 1990.
WIKI
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NERVA
How fast is that in Furlongs per Fortnight?
‘the Kessel Run in fourteen parsecs’
>I’m older than dirt but it used to be 1 hp = 746 nm/sec.
Correct, 1 hp = 746 N-m/s or 746 W.
We may be old but we be right.
-Frank
‘the Kessel Run in fourteen parsecs’
Twelve.
Compressed distance that much? Impressive.
-Frank
If you're moving at 17,500 mph, and the newton in question is oriented in your direction of motion, that newton is doing almost 10.5 HP worth of work on you.
So 5.4 newtons would be doing 56.6 HP of work on you, which — if sustained over many months — would add up to quite a lot of "delta-V," or acceleration.
5.4 newtons for an ion engine is stupendous. Last time I checked, they were generating forces measured in milli-newtons. I remember them being compared to the force generated by the weight of a piece of paper. This represents very impressive progress IMHO.
There are 4.45 newtons per pound.
Thats going to leave trails of gas all over the system.
How long would it take the solar wind to disperse the smell.
Bad enough our comets smell like cat pee.
That’s gonna affect our extra-solar tourist industry.
Thanks BenLurkin Ion engines might be great for interstellar probes, provided the craft got a huge initial boost from a multistage direct ascent vehicle. But it's fantasy to think they'll take humans to Mars in 35 days (there's a YT vid about this, or more than one). Bumpin' the APoD listers.
Remember about those as a teenager. Radioactive as hell, had remote tugs to pull them in and out for testing. No one could get close.
1 Furlong per Fortnight would equal...
0.218 ft/hr (or about 0.00006 ft per sec), a measure of velocity not acceleration.
(Also)
5.4 Newtons = 1.2 lbs
The resulting acceleration would be dependent on the time that the force was applied, the mass being accelerated and the friction coefficient (in space approaches zero).
help me out if I got something wrong.
Regards,
HLB
Off topic but this thread makes me wonder if there has been any progress on the EM drive, the Chinese claim to have a working model.
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