Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Hall thruster is now being tested

This blog has noted the Hall Thruster. This seems to have started production in 2015. On its current voyage to the Beyond it uses xenon, ionised.

"Out there", in this inaugural mission, would be the El Dorado planetoid: 16 Psyche. The Falcon Heavy worked excepting NASA's greedy mission design, forcing to scrap the main booster (for which we taxpayers paid, sigh). I'm not Psychepoasting on account I don't know much about the shiny rock, which ignorance is widely shared hence the mission.

Anyway this Hall is slated to take 3.5 years. Exhaust velocity is 80,000 mph (sigh) so ~35.75 m/s I hear.

There's an erosion effect, inherent in all ionic drives. Thus why it's important to run these things as hot as possible so that the actual cargo gets there before the engine conks out.

The mission was supposed to launch last year. It may be that this engine is already outdated. For a start, xenon is rare. I would see it replaced.

BACKDATE 10/18

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