The thruster, called the NPT30-12, was completely flight evaluated on the Beihangkongshi-1 nanosatellite launched by Chinese business Spacety. Given that its orbital insertion in November, the satellite has actually used its novel propulsion system to relocate a set pattern that was then tracked from the ground and cross-referenced with expected propulsion system efficiency. The outcomes were released in a recent paper in Nature and mark a turning point in the development of much better ion thrusters.
The thrusters wont be extensively adopted enough to make the cost of fuel fall until the cost of the fuel itself is low enough to embrace ion thrusters commonly.
Iodine offers an excellent solution to that issue by preventing it all together.
CNRS video talking about how ThrustMe is leveraging a few of their research.Credit– CNRS YouTube Channel
Most of the improvements embodied in the NPT30– 12 originated from its novel fuel chemical. Iodine is a lot more stable than xenon, or krypton, another, though hardly ever used, ion thruster fuel. Its likewise much more abundant, and therefore cheaper. Xenon, which is just 1 part per 10 million concentration in the atmosphere, costs approximately $3000/ kg. Its other commercial use cases are restricted, so scaling it for usage in ion thrusters presents a chicken-and-egg issue. The thrusters wont be widely adopted enough to make the cost of fuel fall until the expense of the fuel itself is low enough to adopt ion thrusters commonly.
Iodine uses an exceptional option to that issue by circumventing all of it together. It has actually the added bonus offer of being a lot easier to deal with and store than xenon, which requires 100-200 times air pressure to compress properly, compared to iodines capability to be stored unpressurized as a solid. That solid-state allowed ThrustMes group to pump 3x the storage density of fuel compared to xenon gas under pressure.
Profile of the iodine thruster nozzle being tested.Credit– ThrustMe
With that level of fuel density, ThrustMe had the ability to diminish the entire ion thruster propulsion package into a 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm cube, quickly affixable to lots of nanosats. But that small cube loads an extraordinary punch, with “efficiency enhancements” of up to 50% above the baseline for xenon..
Having more possible options for spaceflight is constantly much better.
Discover More: ThrustMe– Worlds first demonstration of an iodine electrical propulsion system in spaceNature– In-orbit presentation of an iodine electrical propulsion systemPhys.org– Iodine successfully tested in satellite ion thrustersSpace.com– Promising brand-new electric iodine thruster passes essential test in orbit.
Lead Image: Image of the NPT30-12 iodine thruster being checked in a vacuum chamber.Credit– ThrustMe.
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Because its orbital insertion in November, the satellite has actually utilized its novel propulsion system to move in a set pattern that was then tracked from the ground and cross-referenced with anticipated propulsion system performance. The results were published in a current paper in Nature and mark a turning point in the development of much better ion thrusters.
Now, a team of engineers and researchers from ThrustMe, a French start-up that focuses on establishing advanced propulsions systems, have developed an ion thruster that works on a much and totally new much easier to utilize product– iodine.
Ion thrusters have played second fiddle to chemical rockets for the majority of the history of space exploration. Part of that is because of their inability to introduce payloads into orbit. In space, their high thrust-to-weight ratio has plenty of appeal. Other functions have held the innovation back, including the problem of working with the thrusters fuel source– xenon. Now, a group of engineers and researchers from ThrustMe, a French start-up that focuses on establishing advanced propulsions systems, have actually developed an ion thruster that deals with a entirely new and much easier to use product– iodine.
