Category: ION ENGINES

VASIMR at Full Power

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This video shows the startup of the VASIMR 1st stage over 5 seconds, the increasing power of the second stage over 3 seconds, a plateau of full power operati…
Video Rating: 4 / 5

What is exactly going to happen on December 21st 2012?

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Question by Answers4You: What is exactly going to happen on December 21st 2012?
I heard that it is going to be a visual event that happens every 26,000 years or so. Does anyone have knowledge of what is going to happen?

Best answer:

Answer by Paul in San Diego
The Mayan calendar ends on that date. Some people say that this prophesizes the end of the world. Others say it’s just as far as the calendar went, probably because they didn’t think their civilization would last that long (which it didn’t).

I think it’s also the last day of autumn for 2012.

What do you think? Answer below!

Q&A: Both plasma and ion rockets use magnetic fields to contain?

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Question by Rob: Both plasma and ion rockets use magnetic fields to contain?
Quote Both plasma and ion rockets use magnetic fields to contain and fire high speed ions out of the thrusters. Unfortunately, they don’t have as much raw thrust or acceleration as chemical rockets do. They do have the ability to speed up slowly however, the maximum acceleration is much easier reached with much less fuel. Quote

What is ion or ionizating? What is the fuel the plasma or ion rockets use? Why such low thrust ?

Best answer:

Answer by Vincent G
An ion is an atom that is electrically charged, either by adding or removal of one or more electrons.
Ionization is the process by which neutral atoms are turned into ions, usually this is done by stripping an electron.
The reaction mass used in ion thrusters is a material that is easily ionized, cesium or argon are frequently chosen.
The trust is low because the power available to accelerate a small mass is quite large, an ion or plasma engine requires a supply of electricity, which has to be provided by a generator of some sort (a nuclear isotopic reactor, solar panels). The more electric energy is invested into the acceleration of a small mass, the more efficient the thruster is in term of specific impulse.

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Is there already an asteroid approaching to our planet?

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Question by Engr. Ronald: Is there already an asteroid approaching to our planet?
Is there already an asteroid or a Comet approaching to our planet to be impact, even its still very very far away from us?

Best answer:

Answer by oldwoodstockhippie
Yes,with the many asteroids in space there is one with earth as it’s target. This should be priority one to our governments,but as always it is on the back burner.

What do you think? Answer below!

Q&A: Could laser propulsion or microwave propulsion be the next big thing like the combustion engine?

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Question by Paulita: Could laser propulsion or microwave propulsion be the next big thing like the combustion engine?
When the technology gets better could laser propulsion or microwave propulsion be the next big thing like the combustion engine ?

Quote I’m saying it is energy problem why laser propulsion and microwave propulsion is scfi and no one is working on it. How does a craft hold that much energy? Well I guess craft could burn a fuel and use that to to heat up the laser or microwave . Quote

What is he saying? What are the engineering problems making this scfi .

May be in 50 years from now or 100 years from now when the technology gets better NASA will be using laser propulsion or microwave propulsion .

Best answer:

Answer by Starrysky
You should realize that those ideas incorporate an external power source–lasers or microwave antennas on a fixed location like the Moon or an asteroid. Beams from them would hit a space vehicle and propel it out from the solar system.
Ion discharge engines offer good efficiency for the fuel on board. But thrust level is low, so the duration of the firing must be very long.

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What exactly is supposed to happen in 2012?

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Question by Spacetravel4: What exactly is supposed to happen in 2012?
December 21 2012? How can you prove this hoax is just a big scam?
So many good answers!
So many good answers!

Best answer:

Answer by Ivan A
exactly nothing. The mayan calendar seems to end that year, that’s all.

Edit: Someone said the Mayans predicted the demise of the mayan society (notice, they said THE MAYAN society, not ALL society) by 2012. Now, the mayan civilization did fade away, only 1000 years before their own prediction. So, like many religious idiots before and after them, they were completely incorrect in their predictions.

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How does the ion propulsion engine work?

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Question by Bobbi: How does the ion propulsion engine work?
i really need to know how it completely works but in a way i could easily explain it.

Best answer:

Answer by panic mode
it blasts ions. ions are produced and accelerated using high voltage. electric power needed this could for example be obtained from solar panels or nuclear device

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Ion-Powered Rovers (KSP .18.1)

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*THANK YOU SCOTT MANLEY for sending people my way =)* Well I had this idea of making a rover so I decided to follow through with it… and I’m glad I did cause these things are awesome :DI just wish I had the patience to use them properly xD Music is by Module (Used with Permission :D) and its the soundtrack to a game called Shatter: sidhe.bandcamp.com Kerbal Space Program – kerbalspaceprogram.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Q&A: Where are the Van Allen radiation belts located in relation to the Earth’s plasmasphere?

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Question by wondering: Where are the Van Allen radiation belts located in relation to the Earth’s plasmasphere?

Do the belts sit inside the plasmasphere? Or does the plasmasphere sit between the two belts?
Do the belts sit inside the plasmasphere? Or does the plasmasphere sit between the two belts? Or neither. Please explain. Thanks!

Best answer:

Answer by guderian93
The same area

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What channels do you receive on the saorview box?

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Question by jay_sb03: What channels do you receive on the saorview box?
I know it’s the free to air channels, but what is the full list?

Best answer:

Answer by leo561
That All depends on your set up. Do you have a motorized dish? If not depends on which bird you have it pointed at usually you can only get about 10 open channels per sat which consist of Ion,Nasa,PBS,3 news channels and 4 infomercials channels @ jsat 12 if you have it motorized sat you can get up to 29 channels in Arabic,Russian,Turkish,Japanese in the 90’s and well into 2001 you could pick up more then 600 channels from OTA signals but since there was no money to be made in this field most sold/shut them off and dish and Direct tv bought most of these sats to knock out the competition so now most use this as a Hobby venture and not for the viewing.there is a link below which i dont know if they are still in progress or has shut down since nothn has been said for 6 months now.

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