Re: VASIMR

In article <37u0025opt4m90h3tcuvc6u7kmgode9v6o@xxxxxxx>, Christopher says...

In the latest Flight International is an article in the spacecraft
section saying that VASIMR is going to be used by NASA to move
satellites to higher orbits, and xenon gas is being considered as a
fuel. Sounds good for VASIMR in that someone has come up with a use
for the engine.

Also sounds unlikely. I haven't heard anything about such a thing
anywhere in the usual literature, though I admit I'm a few weeks
behind on my AW&ST and Space News. I haven't heard anything about
such a thing in any of my discussions with NASA officials on their
plans for near- to mid-term use of electric propulsion systems in
spaceflight, though again it's been a few weeks. I haven't heard
about VASIMR being developed to anything remotely resembling a
flight-ready status, or about anyone committing the money to push
such a thing; quite the opposite.

Furthermore, VASIMR is a thermal-expansion rocket, albeit with a
magnetic nozzle, and thermal-expansion rockets tend to use
low-molecular-weight propellants like Hydrogen. Xenon is a classic
propellant for electrostatic thrusters, like ion engines and Hall
effect thrusters.

At a guess, either someone at NASA talked to a reporter about their
plans to use xenon-fuelled classic ion or HET plasma thrusters to
move satellites into higher orbits[1] to some idiot reporter who
said to himself, "Plasma thruster - that's that VASIMR thingy they
were talking about for that other story I wrote last month. Kewl;
I really know this stuff!"

Or, alternately, the new spinoff company that is trying to do VASIMR
work now that NASA won't fund it in-house, issued a press release
saying, "We propose to use VASIMR (which will be working Real Soon
Now) to push NASA satellites into higher orbits, and NASA hasn't
said Not A Chance In Hell Ever yet, so we're really optimistic!
Investors, please send money!"


[1] Which are themselves tenative; NASA's plans for ion thrusters
and Hall effect thrusters these days mostly have to do with deep
space work. Orbit-raising is a commercial and USAF thing.


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Relevant Pages

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