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Ion thrusters are the most common prime mover powering satellites through orbital maneuvers today.
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But traveling from low Earth orbit (LEO) to more distant orbits – or even to the Moon – requires a different type of ion thruster capable of escape velocity and orbital capture maneuvers.
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Using technology originally developed for NASA’s upcoming lunar space station, the space agency has miniaturized its high-power solar electric technology into an engine that could make more complex satellites and planetary missions possible.
The history of space travel is full of impressive fire-breathing chemicals reels engines launching monumental rockets towards the Moon, Mars and beyond. While these massive devices are marvels of human engineering, the real workhorses of the space industry are the vastly less gargantuan ion thrusters.
These engines are as old as the rockets themselves.Soviet and German rocket leaders first dreamed of its future uses more than a century ago. And today, these electrical propulsion systems power the swarms of satellites around Earth that make modern life possible. Unlike chemical rockets that emit gases for propulsion, ion engines are powered by individual atomswhich makes them much more fuel efficient and allows satellites to operate longer.
However, they are not perfect. In the future, spacecraft It will need to perform high-speed propulsive maneuvers – such as achieving escape velocity and orbital capture – that current ion engines cannot perform. That’s why NASA developed the H71M Sub-Kilowatt Hall Effect Thrustera next-generation ion engine that can provide a change of speed.
The propulsion system must operate using low power (sub-kilowatt) and have high propellant yield (i.e., the ability to use a high total mass of propellant over its useful life) to allow the thrust necessary to perform these maneuvers. Although commercial ion thrusters are good enough for most LEO satellites, these engines use only “10% or less of the initial mass of a small spacecraft in propellant,” according to NASA. The H71M propellant uses 30% and can operate for 15,000 hours.
“Small spacecraft using NASA-H71M electric propulsion technology will be able to maneuver independently low Earth orbit (LEO) to the Moon or even from a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) to Mars”, NASA wrote on its website regarding the new ion thruster. “The ability to conduct missions originating in these near-Earth orbits could greatly increase the cadence and reduce the cost of lunar and Mars science missions.”
The creation of this propellant grew from from NASA work on the Power and Propulsion Element for portal, NASA’s planned lunar orbital space station. The team has essentially miniaturized the high-power solar electrical technologies that will make the lunar mission possible in a package that could provide thrust for smaller space missions.
One of the first spacecraft companies to utilize this next-generation technology is SpaceLogistics, a space subsidiary of Northrop Grumman. The company’s NGHT-1X Hall Effect thrusters are based on NASA technology and will allow its Mission Extension Pod (MEP) – which, as its name suggests, is essentially a satellite repair vehicle – to achieve Earth orbit, where it will attach to a larger satellite. Acting as a “jet propulsion pack,” the MEP will act as an ion-powered symbiote that will extend the larger satellite’s mission for at least six years.
If all goes well, this small but powerful propellant could allow missions previously considered impossible to achieve.
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