Arachno 1D Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Now thats some information I never realized on what force ion propulsion places on a craft a very interesting video Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draconian Guppy Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 you should play this: http://powdertoy.co.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacer Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Cool stuff. Coming up on an dwarf planet is particularly awesome. I can't wait to see what we find out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Commsats usually have a couple tonnes or more of toxic hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide as propellants. These propellants are used for moving from a transfer orbit to a geostationary orbit, and for station keeping during its up to 15 years of life. A medium sized liquid fueled commsat masses about 4.5-5.0 tonnes. If you switch to ion thrusters like the Boeing 70SP commsat it only needs a 75 kilograms of xenon for station keeping over 15 years plus the transfer propellant, and masses as little as 1.8 tonnes.this low mass. This allows the 702SP to be launched 2 at a time by Falcon 9, Atlas V or other light heavy launchers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts