Ion thrusters tagged posts

Ion Propulsion…What Is It?

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Ion thrusters are being designed for a wide variety of missions – from keeping communications satellites in the proper position to propelling spacecraft throughout our solar system. But, what exactly is ion propulsion and how does an ion thruster work?

~Regular Rocket Engines: You heat it up a gas, or put it under pressure, and you push it out of the rocket nozzle, and the action of the gas going out of the nozzle causes a reaction that pushes the spacecraft in the other direction.
~Ion Engines: Xenon gas gets a little electric charge, then they’re called ions, and we use a big voltage to accelerate the xenon ions through this metal grid and we shoot them out of the engine at up to 90,000 miles per hour.

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Something interesting about ion engines is that it pushes on the spacecraft as h...

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