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Ion Thrusters Propel NASA Into Future
Cleveland OH (SPX) May 31, 2005 President Bush's Vision for Space Exploration calls for human and robotic missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond. To realize these ambitious goals, the United States will need more powerful and efficient propulsion and power-generation systems - systems that can thrust a spacecraft out of Earth's orbit to the far reaches of the Universe. NASA's primary research program for developing these technologies is Prometheus Nuclear Systems and Technology. Named for the ancient Greek god of fire and craft, Prometheus has two initial objectives: 1. To develop nuclear-powered propulsion systems 2. To build Prometheus 1, a spacecraft that could conduct far-reaching, long-lasting exploration missions Prometheus 1 would launch using conventional chemical rockets. But once in Earth's orbit, a nuclear electric propulsion system would propel it through space. Nuclear electric propulsion is over 10 times more efficient than chemical rockets and produces 20 times more power than the generators used on space probes such as Voyager and Cassini or solar-powered systems like Deep Space 1. Coupled with traditional rocket launchers, nuclear electric propulsion would allow spacecraft to travel farther and faster and to perform in-flight course changes and precise maneuvers. It would also carry heavier, power-hungry equipment, including precise cameras, sophisticated scientific instruments, high-speed computers and advanced communication systems. "A nuclear electric propulsion system could propel and power at least ten times as much payload science as other systems," said Research Engineer Steve Oleson of the NASA Glenn Research Center. "It could allow a spacecraft to beam more information back to Earth." As a result, scientists could closely study the surfaces of the outer planets and their moons as well as the surfaces and interiors of comets. In a nuclear electric propulsion system, a nuclear reactor produces heat, a power-conversion system converts the heat to electricity, and an ion thruster uses the electricity to propel the spacecraft.
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