Ion thruster spacecraft speed limit?

Hmmm, …, theoretically, speaking if the spacecraft were ~massless this might be possible. However, quite a bit of mass is need for an ION engine to operate. Thus, as the engine approached the speed of light it’s mass would also approach infinity – See the LIM of c = (e/m)^-2 as m approaches infinity. Meaning given a constant amount of potential energy at the beginning of the flight as the Mass of the craft increased there would reach a point to were A) you would run out of energy or the system could no longer produce enough energy to produce a recognizable change in speed.

Also, the engine in not 100% efficient in converting mass into forward thrust. Eventually it would run out of fuel or the electric mesh would decay (which is an inherent problem with ion engines). That being said, yes w get much greater speeds with ion engines that we do with conventional chemical rockets. And we get that increase along with longer operating times and less fuel payload requirements. So it is a better engine than a conventional chemical rocket.

However, The Plasma Engine, is a much more efficient engine than either of the preveious two engines. Although, given it’s vast improvement in design it still will not be able to overcome the problem of infinite mass as we near light speed and beyond. We must first solve this problem mathematically then we’ll be able to solve it with engineering.

2 Responses

Bobby says:

July 29, 2011 at 5:13 am

Uh………..right.
digquickly says:

July 29, 2011 at 5:21 am

Hmmm, …, theoretically, speaking if the spacecraft were ~massless this might be possible. However, quite a bit of mass is need for an ION engine to operate. Thus, as the engine approached the speed of light it’s mass would also approach infinity – See the LIM of c = (e/m)^-2 as m approaches infinity. Meaning given a constant amount of potential energy at the beginning of the flight as the Mass of the craft increased there would reach a point to were A) you would run out of energy or the system could no longer produce enough energy to produce a recognizable change in speed.

Also, the engine in not 100% efficient in converting mass into forward thrust. Eventually it would run out of fuel or the electric mesh would decay (which is an inherent problem with ion engines). That being said, yes w get much greater speeds with ion engines that we do with conventional chemical rockets. And we get that increase along with longer operating times and less fuel payload requirements. So it is a better engine than a conventional chemical rocket.

However, The Plasma Engine, is a much more efficient engine than either of the preveious two engines. Although, given it’s vast improvement in design it still will not be able to overcome the problem of infinite mass as we near light speed and beyond. We must first solve this problem mathematically then we’ll be able to solve it with engineering.

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Ion thruster spacecraft speed limit?