Ion engine enters space race

How long till the T5 is ready? How long would it take to get to say mars?
edit: ok assuming mars is 34.65million miles away, it would take 77 days. That's pretty impressive I guess.
 
Though it apparently has fairly low thrust.
 
Eejit said:
Though it apparently has fairly low thrust.
Click to expand...

i think that doesn't matter, all thrust is added to your speed i think in zero gravity/friction...
you'd be going light speed before you know it : D

-dodo
 
Holy awesome!

But what if - what if there were two? Twin engines? Twin...ion...
 
Dodo said:
i think that doesn't matter, all thrust is added to your speed i think in zero gravity/friction...
you'd be going light speed before you know it : D

-dodo
Click to expand...

It affects rate of acceleration/deceleration though doesn't it? There's still inertia.
 
I'm guessing something to do with 40k :(




but it all respects, this is awesome
 
I don't get it. Various kinds of electric propulsion and ion engines have been used for decades, it's even stated in the article. This just looks like a british feel-good thing: "hurray! Now we can do what the soviets and the americans and the rest of Europe has been doing for years!!1"

While these engines are very handy they're not going to cut travel times in any meaningful way. They do make complex manouvers possible though. Nasa's Dawn spacecraft launched last year will be able to orbit Ceres, then break orbit and go to Vesta, something that would have been difficult with chemical propulsion.
 
But, uh, everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here, now, thank you. How are you?
 
DEATHMASTER said:
How long till the T5 is ready? How long would it take to get to say mars?
edit: ok assuming mars is 34.65million miles away, it would take 77 days. That's pretty impressive I guess.
Click to expand...

I believe they said they are doing a real test in space this summer for the T5.
 
99.vikram said:
I dun get it. ;(
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Koola Mena said:
I'm guessing something to do with 40k :(
Click to expand...

:sleep:

tie_fighter_squardron5.jpg





And the ion engine isn't new. I'm sorry but I'm not excited yet, call me when they develop the warp engine. This is just an appetizer.
 
Great shot kid, that was one in a million!
 
Sir, if any of my circuits or gears will help, I'll gladly donate them!
 
Ion engines are not new. Plasma engines are very new. Ion engines have extremely low thrust, but can be used for a very long time. Plasma engines have more thrust, but are much more dangerous to use because of the extreme heat.

When I was at NASA, I got to see both an Ion engine like the one used on DS-1, and the new VASMIR plasma engine, which will be tested at the international space station next year.
 
These new plasma engines will deliver us to the heavens.

I know this because I work at Valve.
 
Still none of these propulsion systems is gonna get us further than Pluto.
 
Terminator said:
Highly efficient and long lasting they may be but being a somewhat impatient guy i prefer my spaceship propulsion systems to have a little more thrust: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1vKMTYa40A (each detonation is a small nuclear explosion)
Click to expand...

Um, no. Detonating nukes, even small ones, in orbit would generate a cloud of ions which would destroy every satellite in orbit. You'd need some kind of propulsion system to get Orion safely out of orbit and away from the planet before you started detonating space nukes.
 
theotherguy said:
Um, no. Detonating nukes, even small ones, in orbit would generate a cloud of ions which would destroy every satellite in orbit. You'd need some kind of propulsion system to get Orion safely out of orbit and away from the planet before you started detonating space nukes.
Click to expand...

Seriously where do you get this information. Is this just a guess or is there actually an explanation on specifically why the idea would go awry.
 
Eejit said:
It affects rate of acceleration/deceleration though doesn't it? There's still inertia.
Click to expand...

ture but, this type of engines are currently our best bet for interplanetary travels.
 
Pesmerga said:
Seriously where do you get this information. Is this just a guess or is there actually an explanation on specifically why the idea would go awry.
Click to expand...

http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/congress/1997_h/h970716u.htm

Based on over a half-century of research, we have developed an understanding of the effects produced by nuclear weapons. Since the end of the Cold War, we have added to our knowledge based on an analysis of information made available from the Soviet Union?s nuclear test programs.

To understand the military consequences that can result from the high altitude detonation of even a single nuclear weapon, I will address:

* High Altitude EMP (or HEMP)
* System Generated EMP (SGEMP) and
* other Radiation Effects.
Click to expand...


nuclear weapon detonated at high altitude releases some of its energy in the form of gamma rays. These gamma rays collide with air molecules and produce what are called Compton electrons. The Compton electrons, in turn, interact with the earth's magnetic field, producing an intense electromagnetic pulse that propagates downward to the earth's surface. The initial gamma rays and resultant EMP move with the speed of light. The effects encompass an area along the line of sight from the detonation to the earth's horizon. Any system within view of the detonation will experience some level of EMP. For example, if a high-yield weapon were to be detonated 400 kilometers (250 miles) above the United States, nearly the entire contiguous 48 states would be within the line-of-sight. The frequency range of the pulse is enormously wide -- from below one hertz to one gigahertz. Peak electric fields can reach tens of thousands of volts per meter. All types of modern electronics are potentially at risk, from Boston to Los Angeles; from Chicago to New Orleans.

One of our earliest experiences with HEMP dates back to the resumption of atmospheric nuclear testing in 1962 following a three year testing moratorium. Starfish Prime, a 1.4 megaton device, was detonated at an altitude of 400 kilometers over Johnston Island. Failures of electronic systems resulted in Hawaii, 1,300 kilometers away from the detonation. Street lights and fuzes failed on Oahu and telephone service was disrupted on the island of Kauai. Subsequent tests with lower yield devices produced electronic upsets on an instrumentation aircraft that was approximately 300 kilometers away from the detonations.
Click to expand...

So nuclear detonation in space or high atmosphere results in massive EMP shock to all countries within the line of sight.

When gamma and x-rays from a high altitude detonation encounter a satellite in space they excite and release electrons as they penetrate the interior of the system. This phenomena is referred to as system generated electromagnetic pulse (SGEMP) because the accelerated electrons create electromagnetic transients. Systems must be configured with special cables, aperture protection, grounding, and insulating materials in order to survive these transients.

SGEMP impacts space system electronics in three ways. First, x-rays arriving at the spacecraft skin cause an accumulation of electrons there. The electron charge, which is not uniformly distributed on the skin, causes current to flow on the outside of the system. These currents can penetrate into the interior through various apertures, as well as into and through the solar cell power transmission system. Secondly, x-rays can also penetrate the skin to produce electrons on the interior walls of the various compartments. The resulting interior electron currents generate cavity electromagnetic fields that induce voltages on the associated electronics which produce spurious currents that can cause upset or burnout of these systems. Finally, x-rays can produce electrons that find their way directly into signal and power cables to cause extraneous cable currents. These currents are also propagated through the satellite wiring harnes
Click to expand...

So all satellites within the line of sight of the explosion will be disabled by the high energy radiation.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2002/nuke_explosion.htm

A new threat based on Cold War nuclear knowledge has US defence analysts concerned. If a high-altitude nuclear explosion were launched by a rogue state, most satellites in low earth orbit would cease to function within weeks. Ian Steer weighs up this asymmetric threat
Click to expand...
 
Eejit said:
It affects rate of acceleration/deceleration though doesn't it? There's still inertia.
Click to expand...

Of course. F=ma. Low thrust means low force, which means low acceleration. Given enough time and fuel, you could get going fairly fast using an ion engine. That's the neat thing about electric propulsion, is that you can apply a constant, non-lethal thrust to get up to very high speeds. The only problem is that at low accelerations, it takes a long time to get up to high speed.

One of the applications of constant thrust is easy artificial gravity. With a powerful plasma or ion engine, you could accelerate at 9.8 m/s2, and you wouldn't be able to distinguish the acceleration from that of Earth's gravity. To slow down, you merely turn the ship around and decelerate, giving artificial gravity the entire way.
 
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