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Electric Propulsion Comes of Age with Psyche Mission to an Asteroid

posted by martyb on Monday November 22 2021, @10:54AM   Printer-friendly
from the AXE:-Advancing-Xenon-Emitters dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

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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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by PinkyGigglebrain on Monday November 22 2021, @07:36PM (2 children)

    by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Monday November 22 2021, @07:36PM (#1198641)

    Psyche's Hall thrusters will be the first to be used beyond lunar orbit,

    Might be the first time that specific type of ion engine from that company is used beyond Luna's orbit but the Deep Space 1 [wikipedia.org] mission launched in 1998 proved Ion engines work quite well beyond Luna's orbit. Maybe the PR department at Psyche was hoping everyone had forgotten about DS1.

    Also couldn't help but notice how they threw in Solar as a buzz word. It works great for powering a space craft in the inner Solar system but once you try to go past the asteroid belt where an Ion engine could really show it's stuff Solar energy just isn't practical because of how weak the Sun is at those distances. All the probes sent to Jupiter and beyond have been nuclear powered.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Monday November 22 2021, @09:27PM (1 child)

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Monday November 22 2021, @09:27PM (#1198687) Journal

    Untrue. Solar power is now considered viable for Jupiter, although the panels are quite large. Saturn, forget about it.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(spacecraft) [wikipedia.org]
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_Icy_Moons_Explorer [wikipedia.org]
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_Clipper [wikipedia.org]

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    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Monday November 22 2021, @09:34PM

      by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Monday November 22 2021, @09:34PM (#1198689) Journal

      Juno marks the first time solar panels have actually been used for a Jupiter mission, but you can expect many future missions to also use them:

      Europa Clipper

      Both radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) and photovoltaic power sources were assessed to power the orbiter. Although solar power is only 4% as intense at Jupiter as it is in Earth's orbit, powering a Jupiter orbital spacecraft by solar panels was demonstrated by the Juno mission. The alternative to solar panels was a multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG), fueled with plutonium-238. The power source has already been demonstrated in the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. Five units were available, with one reserved for the Mars 2020 rover mission and another as backup. In September 2013, it was decided that the solar array was the less expensive option to power the spacecraft, and on 3 October 2014, it was announced that solar panels were chosen to power Europa Clipper. The mission's designers determined that solar was both cheaper than plutonium and practical to use on the spacecraft.[54] Despite the increased weight of solar panels compared to plutonium-powered generators, the vehicle's mass had been projected to still be within acceptable launch limits.

      Jupiter is a popular (frequent missions, and flybys are done just for the gravity assist [wikipedia.org]) and relatively easy to reach destination in the Solar system, so it's good that nuclear isotopes can be reserved for missions to Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Eris, etc.

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