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Not Science Fiction: Electric Propulsion Comes of Age With Psyche Mission to an Asteroid:
Psyche's Hall thrusters will be the first to be used beyond lunar orbit, demonstrating that they could play a role in supporting future missions to deep space. The spacecraft is set to launch in August 2022 and its super-efficient mode of propulsion uses solar arrays to capture sunlight that is converted into electricity to power the spacecraft's thrusters. The thrusters work by turning xenon gas, a neutral gas used in car headlights and plasma TVs, into xenon ions. As the xenon ions are accelerated out of the thruster, they create the thrust that will propel the spacecraft.
Belters rejoice.
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Electric Propulsion Comes of Age with Psyche Mission to an Asteroid
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Anyone can make an omelet with eggs. The trick is to make one with none.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by PiMuNu on Monday November 22 2021, @05:19PM
The point is that you save a significant amount of rocket fuel to get the xenon gas bottle into space compared to the large mass of conventional rocket fuel and engines. Even if Xenon is expensive to harvest on earth, it is considerably cheaper than constructing and fuelling such a rocket.
If you are considering the full costing of the xenon, including harvesting on earth, you should compare against the full costing of the rocket fuel, including launch costs.