A Tohoku University researcher has increased the performance of a high-power electrodeless plasma thruster, moving us one step closer to deeper explorations into space.. y, several space missions have ...

image: The magnetic nozzle rf plasma thruster operated in a Mega hpt vacuum chamber at Tohoku University view more . Credit: ... such as gridded ion thrusters and Hall thrusters.

Busek’s Iodine RF Ion Thruster (RFIT) is being developed to achieve orbit-raising and station-keeping for microsatellites in the <100kg mass range, or de-orbit for satellites in the same weight ...

When [Jay Bowles] demoed his first-generation ion thruster on Plasma Channel, the resulting video picked up millions of views and got hobbyists and professionals alike talking. While ionic lifters … ...

A team of researchers has come up with plasma beam that can push space debris out of orbit. Mounted on a satellite, the two-way facing beam is produced by a bespoke ion thruster that uses its ...

Spacecraft have used ion drives to explore the moon and deep space, but a new study aims to boost the electric propulsion idea to keep satellites around Earth alive longer.

And, by some measures, it outperformed a xenon-based thruster by 50 percent. Space-based demo Working hardware was flown on a 12-unit cubesat weighing about 20 kilograms called Beihangkongshi-1.

While commercial ion thrusters are good enough for most LEO satellites, these engines only use “10% or less of a small spacecraft’s initial mass in propellant,” according to NASA.

Ion thrusters need a power source and an effective one if they will last more than a decade under thrust. The paper defined an ideal power plan that can output 1 kW per kg of weight.

The magnetic nozzle rf plasma thruster operated in a Mega hpt vacuum chamber at Tohoku University CREDIT Kazunori Takahashi A Tohoku University researcher has increased the performance of a high ...

The magnetic nozzle rf plasma thruster operated in a Mega hpt vacuum chamber at Tohoku University CREDIT Kazunori Takahashi A Tohoku University researcher has increased the performance of a high ...