Man went into space thanks to liquid and solid propellant rocket engines. But they also called into question the effectiveness of space flights. In order for a relatively small spacecraft to at least "hook" into the Earth's orbit, it is installed on top of an impressive launch vehicle. And the rocket itself, in fact, is a flying tank, the lion's share of the weight of which is reserved for fuel. When all of it is used up to the last drop, a meager supply remains on board the ship.
In order not to fall to Earth, the International Space Station periodically raises its orbit with the pulses of jet engines. Fuel for them - approximately 7.5 tons - is delivered by automatic ships several times a year. But such refueling is not expected on the way to Mars. Isn't it time to say goodbye to outdated circuits and turn to a more advanced ion engine?It doesn't take insane amounts of fuel to make it work. Only gas and electricity. Electricity in space is produced by capturing the light radiation of the Sun with panels.solar batteries. The farther from the star, the less their power, so you will have to use nuclear reactors as well. The gas enters the primary combustion chamber, where it is bombarded with electrons and ionized. The resulting cold plasma is sent to warm up, and then - to the magnetic nozzle, for acceleration. The ion engine ejects hot plasma from itself at speeds inaccessible to conventional rocket engines. And the spacecraft gets the boost it needs.
The working principle is so simple that you can assemble a demonstration ion engine with your own hands. If the pinwheel-shaped electrode is pre-balanced, placed on the tip of a needle and a high voltage is applied, a blue glow will appear at the sharp ends of the electrode, created by electrons escaping from them. Their expiration will create a weak reactive force, the electrode will begin to rotate.
Alas, ion thrusters have such meager thrust that they cannot lift a spacecraft from the surface of the Moon, not to mention a ground launch. This can be most clearly seen if we compare two ships going to Mars. The liquid-propellant ship will begin its flight after a few minutes of intense acceleration and spend slightly less time decelerating near the Red Planet. The ship with ion engines will accelerate for two months in a slowly unwinding spiral, and the same operation awaits it in the vicinity of Mars…
And yet, the ion engine has already found its application: theyequipped with a number of unmanned spacecraft sent on long-term reconnaissance missions to the near and far planets of the solar system, to the asteroid belt.
The ion engine is the same turtle that overtakes the swift-footed Achilles. Having used up all the fuel in a matter of minutes, the liquid engine stops forever and becomes a useless piece of iron. And plasma can work for years. It is possible that they will be equipped with the first spacecraft, which will go to Alpha Centauri, the closest star to Earth, at sub-light speed. The flight is expected to take only 15-20 years.
