Physics
Scientific paper
Jan 2000
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000aipc..504..941f&link_type=abstract
SPACE TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL FORUM - 2000. AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 504, pp. 941-946 (2000).
Physics
Ion And Plasma Propulsion, Spaceborne And Space Research Instruments, Apparatus, And Components, Interplanetary Physics
Scientific paper
For a successful interstellar mission, the time taken to acquire useful data must be sufficiently short to maintain interest within the scientific community and associated funding agencies. Thus the mission must probably be productive within a few decades, implying a very high terminal velocity. Assuming that no new physical principles are employed, this can be accomplished only with propulsion systems which operate at ultra-high specific impulse (SI). In the near-term, advanced gridded ion thrusters offer a level of performance that may be of interest. This paper explores how far this technology can be taken to satisfy the demands of early interstellar missions, mainly by increasing the exhaust velocity through raising the ion accelerating potential and reducing the atomic mass of the propellant. It is concluded that an SI of perhaps 150 000 sec and a thrust in the 1 N range might be achieved, for a 10 cm ion beam diameter. .
Fearn David G.
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