Sitting in the balcony of my apartment and watching the beautiful sky and wondering what lies beyond those clouds got me into the mood of writing today's article about space exploration .
Few days ago Space X 's Dragon safely landed in the Gulf of Mexico . The Space community is thrilled by this major feat , as a private company (SPACE X) has joined in the quest for the unknown . And with no doubt we can assume the space exploration sector is slowly becoming a worthwhile quest after all .
While all of the progress made until now is great , there are still major hurdles that needs to be overcome to make space travel sustainable. One of such hurdle that needs to be overcome is already in the pipeline , and if it's successful , it will skyrocket the entire space travel industry to the mars like Literally . It is the developments of the Electric Propulsion System
What is a Propulsion System ?
Propulsion system in simple term is the whole engine of the spacecraft . In brief , it is the combination of the Engine , Fuel Tank Pumps and the Propellant . A propulsion system is what drives the spacecraft forward and backwards in space . For perspective consider your own Car , the engine , the fuel tank and the fuel makes up the entire mechanical part that actually produces motion for the car , the same applies for spacecraft .
Classification of Propulsion system
Ever since the space exploration begun , we have been using Chemical Propulsion system to drive our spacecrafts and satellites in space .Even today majority of the space travel agencies are still stuck with Chemcial propulsion system . Chemical propulsion works by burning a chemical or a compound towards the opposite direction of travel to be able to provide the force to travel in desired direction in space. Yes ! You guessed it right . The working principle behind it is the Newtons third law of motion , Every action has equal an opposite reaction . Chemical propulsion systems are simple but highly unsustainable . It's bulky and requires a lot of fuel . specially for outer space travel . Hence scientist all over the world got together and came up with the new concept of Electric propulsion system . Electric propulsion proved to be light weight and way more efficient .
Electric Propulsion
Electric propulsion system relies on the newtons 3rd law principle. The only difference is instead of combustion of fuel , it has an Electric field , Magnetic field and a propellant that work in conjunction to provide the thrust that's required . One such Electric propulsion that's promising is the the ION THRUSTER .
The Future
Ion Thruster generally use Inert gases like Xenon and feed them with High Energy to Liberate their Ions. These Ions form a PLASMA which are then shot out into the space using electromagnetic waves. These ions give the spacecraft the designated blue neon light trail as shown in most sci-fi movies. Ion thruster are considered to be highly efficient compared to chemical thrusters and a simple to construct hence they are the future.
Current Drawbacks with the Ion Thruster
Ion thruster are promising but there are certain critically areas where it lacks .
One such is with the power of thrust , the thrust it can generate is significantly low. Hence we cannot use ion thruster yet to exit the earth's atmosphere . Also we haven't used ion thruster on any maned space mission yet due to it's low power . However we can use it in space for long distance satellite travel that is not time bound . Ion thrusters are also used in Small Satellites like Cube Satellites to move around .
Ray Of Hope
But lately lots of theories have come up , that shows the increase in power of Ion thrusters . An increase as high as 50x the existing Ion Thrusters. If this ends up being practical then I can confidently state that we are not far away from witnessing a Space odyssey .
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section .
Thanks for Reading !