NEXT (ion thruster)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Image of NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) operation in vacuum chamber.

The NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster project at Glenn Research Center aims to build an ion thruster about three times as powerful as the NSTAR used on Dawn and Deep Space 1. By 2008, flight qualification models of the thruster were available.[1]

NEXT has 6.9 kW thruster power and 236 mN thrust, can be throttled down to 0.5 kW power, and has an ISP of 4190 seconds (compared to 3120 for NSTAR). The thrusters are manufactured at Aerojet and the power-management units at the ETI division of L3 Communications.

It was tested for 48000 hours (5 and half years).[2][3][4]

The example missions included putting up to 4000 kg into Saturn orbit, or performing a sample return from Mars' moon Deimos.

References

  1. ↑ George R Schmidt, Michael J Patterson, Scott W Benson. "The NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT): the next step for US deep space propulsion". 
  2. ↑ Dwayne Brown, Katherine K. Martin, Glenn Mahone. "NASA Thruster Achieves World-Record 5+ Years of Operation". Retrieved 2013-06-24. 
  3. ↑ David Szondy. "NASA's NEXT ion thruster runs five and a half years nonstop to set new record". Retrieved 2013-06-26. 
  4. ↑ Nancy Smith Kilkenny, SGT,Inc. "NEXT Provides Lasting Propulsion and High Speeds for Deep Space Missions". Retrieved 2013-09-09. 

Links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.