Computer Science – Performance
Scientific paper
Jan 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002iaf..confe.832e&link_type=abstract
IAF abstracts, 34th COSPAR Scientific Assembly, The Second World Space Congress, held 10-19 October, 2002 in Houston, TX, USA.,
Computer Science
Performance
Scientific paper
almost an Engineer (2002 will be my last year as student) and the studies that I'm now ending here, in Girona, are closely related not only with science and technology subjects but with optimization and economic result obtention, too. Huge distances that separate us from everything in space have launched scientists and engineers into a new challenge: How to reach maximum speeds keeping high ratios payload/total spacecraft mass? The key limitation of chemical rockets is that their exhaust velocity is relatively low. Because achieving Earth orbit requires a high velocity change a rocket must carry far more propellant than payload. The answer to all this complications seems to stare in one way: electric propulsion systems and the possibility of taking advantatge of solar winds to thrust our crafts. possible solutions, some of them have been studied for years and now they are not a project but a reality; also newest theories bring us the possibility of dream. Improve of commom propellants, search of new ones: Investigators continued research on use of atomic species as high-energy-density propellants, which could increase the specific impulse of hydrogen/oxygen rockets by 50-150%. Nuclear fission propulsion: Centered in development of reactors for nearterm nuclear electric propulsion aplications. Multimegawatt systems based on vapor core reactors and magnetohydrodynamic power conversion. Engineers investigated new fuels for compact nuclear thermal propulsion systems. What is called plasma state?: When a gas is heated to tens of thousands or millions of degrees, atoms lose their electrons. The result is a "soup" of charged particles, or plasma, made up of negatively charged electrons and positively charged ions. No known material can contain the hot plasma necessary for rocket propulsion, but specially designed magnetic fields can. Plasma rockets: This rockets are not powered by conventional chemical reactions as today's rockets are, but by electrical energy that heats the propellant. The propellant is a plasma that reaches extreme temperatures. Rockets tend to work much better the hotter the exhaust is. Thrust from the plasma engine could boost a spacecraft for a longer time and with better efficiency than conventional engines. Solar Windsurfing: A technology that uses a magnetic balloon to capture ionized particles shed by the Sun, "sailing" through space by taking use of the pressure of the sun's rays. All that is needed is a thin sheet of reflective material. Solar photons bounce off and transfer momentum to the sail, allowing the spacecraft to accelerate without expending fuel. General problems: -The electrostatic impact of the plasma created by electric thruster on spacecraft charging. -The influence of plasma ejected from the thruster on solar panel performances. -Creation of parasite currents in the structure that may disturb sensitive equipment. -... in 300 words but I think that you will have a general idea about my work and what The Astronautical Congres represents to me.
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