Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Ion Thrusters Propel NASA Into Future
spacedaily.com ^ | 05/31/05

Posted on 05/31/2005 6:06:35 PM PDT by KevinDavis

President Bush's Vision for Space Exploration calls for human and robotic missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond. To realize these ambitious goals, the United States will need more powerful and efficient propulsion and power-generation systems - systems that can thrust a spacecraft out of Earth's orbit to the far reaches of the Universe.

NASA's primary research program for developing these technologies is Prometheus Nuclear Systems and Technology. Named for the ancient Greek god of fire and craft, Prometheus has two initial objectives:

(Excerpt) Read more at spacedaily.com ...


TOPICS: Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Unclassified
KEYWORDS: cary; ion; nasa
Finally NASA is doing something useful....
1 posted on 05/31/2005 6:06:35 PM PDT by KevinDavis
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: RightWhale; Brett66; xrp; gdc314; anymouse; RadioAstronomer; NonZeroSum; jimkress; discostu; ...

2 posted on 05/31/2005 6:07:05 PM PDT by KevinDavis (the space/future belongs to the eagles, the earth/past to the groundhogs)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

I'd rather they go with other proper anti-gravity devices.


3 posted on 05/31/2005 6:08:01 PM PDT by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

The Father of American rocketry, or one of the fathers of rocketry period, Goddard, had an ion motor working in his lab. Back in the 20s. These are without a doubt very efficient due to the extremely high temperature of operation.


4 posted on 05/31/2005 6:10:39 PM PDT by RightWhale (These problems would not exist if we had had a moon base all along)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis
VERY cool . . .
5 posted on 05/31/2005 6:18:11 PM PDT by BenLurkin (O beautiful for patriot dream - that sees beyond the years)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

THRRRUST!

6 posted on 05/31/2005 6:19:42 PM PDT by null and void
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis
"Ion Powerrh!"
7 posted on 05/31/2005 6:32:40 PM PDT by mikrofon (Fic/Fact crossover)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: RightWhale

I built a working ion rocket motor for a science fair. :-)

Wish I still had it now. Sigh.


8 posted on 06/01/2005 6:48:58 AM PDT by RadioAstronomer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: RadioAstronomer

Goddard used schedule 40 black pipe for his vacuum chamber, made a loop that went all the way across the shop floor.


9 posted on 06/01/2005 9:29:18 AM PDT by RightWhale (These problems would not exist if we had had a moon base all along)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson