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China's JW-200 Satellite Successfully Demonstrates Advanced Ion Propulsion
China's JW-200 Satellite Successfully Demonstrates Advanced Ion Propulsion
China's JW-200 research satellite has successfully demonstrated its permanent magnet-based Hall-effect ion propulsion thruster in orbit. When fired up, the ion drive produces bluish fumes and halo rings that are caused by extremely hot, electrically charged particles leaving the engine at 30-plus times the speed of sound. In China, scientists at the Shanghai Space Station Institute have been working to improve the technology.
China plans an uncrewed scientific mission to explore the outer solar system planet Neptune. It is 30 times further from the sun than the Earth. The spacecraft will be launched as early as 2028. It will be driven by a nuclear-powered, 20KW ion thruster.
Hall effect thrusters are named after Edwin Herbert Hall, an American physicist. He discovered in the 1930s that electrically charged particles could produce a thrust, but Soviet Russian scientists and engineers were the first to bring the theory to life. Soviet Russia started making numerous types of Hall thrusters for their satellites in the 1970s and even sold engines to NASA. Since then, NASA has started building its own.
The thrust produced by electric propulsion systems is usually quite small. More importantly, charged particles can affect engine components and could shorten the lifespan of satellites and put human crews in danger. The Chinese research team has been testing the thrusters to the limit to ensure the engines can withstand the damage caused by the particles well enough to be used safely in crewed missions. According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, one ion drive under development has burned non-stop for 8,240 hours–or more than 11 months–without a glitch, an indicator that they can easily meet the Chinese space station’s designated 15-year lifespan.
To protect the ion engine from erosion, researchers put a magnetic field over the engine’s inner wall to repel damaging particles. Chinese scientists have also created a special ceramic material designed to remain stable for a long period in the face of extreme heat or radiation.
In spacecraft propulsion, a Hall-effect thruster (HET) is a type of ion thruster where the propellant is accelerated by an electric field. Hall-effect thrusters (based on the discovery by Edwin Hall) are also referred to as Hall thrusters or Hall-current thrusters. Hall-effect thrusters use a magnetic field to limit the electrons' axial motion and then use them to ionize propellant, efficiently accelerate the ions to produce thrust, and neutralize the ions in the plume. The Hall-effect thruster is classed as a moderate specific impulse (1,600 s) space propulsion technology and has benefited from considerable theoretical and experimental research since the 1960s. [Wikipedia]
Video Credit: China National Space Agency (CNSA) Watcher
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