How much thrust does vasimr produce?

According to Ad Astra as of 2015, the VX-200 engine requires 200 kW electrical power to produce 5 N of thrust, or 40 kW/N. In contrast, the conventional NEXT ion thruster produces 0.327 N with only 7.7 kW, or 24 kW/N.

What is the strongest thruster?

The magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thruster is currently the most powerful form of electromagnetic propulsion.

What happened to the vasimr engine?

Ad Astra Rocket Company broken a major record for long-duration/high-power firing of the firm’s VASIMR® VX-200SS plasma engine — in doing so, the firm has further advanced the technology of powerful and fuel-efficient electric rockets.

How does the vasimr work?

Much like an ion thruster, VASIMR uses a gas such as argon or xenon, however, it is also capable of using hydrogen. It works by injecting the propellant into a tube surrounded by magnets and two radio wave (RF) antennas. The first RF antenna converts the gas into the plasma used for propulsion by ionizing it.

How does a Hall effect thruster work?

Hall-effect thrusters use a magnetic field to limit the electrons’ axial motion and then use them to ionize propellant, efficiently accelerate the ions to produce thrust, and neutralize the ions in the plume. Hall thrusters operate on a variety of propellants, the most common being xenon and krypton.

Is vasimr possible?

VASIMR could potentially be the break-through technology that was needed to get the manned space program going again or it could be just another plasma propulsion system on the market that was not able to live up to its expectations.

What are the applications of Hall-effect thrusters?

The applications of Hall-effect thrusters include control of the orientation and position of orbiting satellites and use as a main propulsion engine for medium-size robotic space vehicles. Hall thrusters were studied independently in the United States and the Soviet Union. They were first described publicly in the US in the early 1960s.

What is the Hall effect rocket with magnetic shielding?

This is a solar electric propulsion system which encompasses the power generation and conditioning equipment, as well as a 14 kW SPT thruster known as HERMeS, or the Hall Effect Rocket with Magnetic Shielding.

How much thrust is produced by a xenon Hall thruster?

The thrust produced depends on the power level. Devices operating at 1.35 kW produce about 83 mN of thrust. High-power models have demonstrated up to 5.4 N in the laboratory. Power levels up to 100 kW have been demonstrated for xenon Hall thrusters.

What is the highest power Hall thruster in space?

The first flight of an American Hall thruster on an operational mission, was the Aerojet BPT-4000, which launched August 2010 on the military Advanced Extremely High Frequency GEO communications satellite. At 4.5 kW, the BPT-4000 is also the highest power Hall thruster ever flown in space.