NASA and the aerospace company Aerojet Rocketdyne completed successfully 12 kW Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) Qualification Test Solar power generation (SEP) The engine is built for use on long-duration space missions to the moon and beyond, and AEPS is touted as the most powerful electric propulsion (also known as ion propulsion) thruster currently manufactured. For context, 12 kilowatts is: enough to power More than 1,330 LED bulbs were used, and these successful qualification tests came after NASA’s announcement. The beginning of the qualification exam In July.
“AEPS is truly a next-generation technology,” Clayton Cashel, AEPS project manager at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, said in a July statement ahead of the qualification test. “Current electric propulsion systems use about 4.5 kilowatts of power, but here we are significantly increasing the power of a single thruster. This capability opens up opportunities for future space exploration, and AEPS It will take us further and faster.”
The blue exhaust plume from the AEPS seen during these qualification tests is generated from ionized xenon gas, hence the name ion propulsion.meanwhile traditional chemistry promotion It uses liquid propellant as fuel to produce very short but very powerful jets of energy to propel the spacecraft in the desired direction. Electric propulsion uses inert gas propellants as fuel, so it uses less energy but lasts much longer and is more efficient. Useful for long-term space missions.
The goal is to use AEPS for NASA’s future programs. gateway Build a space station with three AEPS thrusters on the Gateway Power and propulsion elements, will be responsible for providing a variety of missions, including maintaining the Gateway’s desired lunar orbit, high-speed communications between Earths, and power to the entire orbiting outpost. Scheduled to launch in 2025, Gateway will be a collaboration with international and commercial partners as an integral part of NASA’s future plans. artemis mission to the moon’s south pole within the next few years. AEPS’ current goal is the Gateway, but the thrusters could also be used in deep space missions.
“I think it will be exciting to see what kind of missions this technology ultimately enables,” AEPS principal engineer Rohit Shastri said in a July statement ahead of the certification exam. Stated. “We are pushing the boundaries and taking giant leaps forward with our capabilities and opportunities.”
AEPS is a solar powered engine, but another type of electric propulsion engine is Nuclear electric propulsion (NEP), which uses nuclear reactors to generate thrust, as opposed to solar power. Additionally, while AEPS is the most powerful electric propulsion thruster currently manufactured, it is not the first time NASA has used electric propulsion on a deep space mission. NASA’s dawn mission For Ceres and Vesta First scientific mission using ion propulsion system.Most recently, NASA psyche missionWhich It was successfully launched on October 13th.to travel 3.6 billion kilometers (2.2 billion miles) to asteroid 16 Psyche using solar electric propulsion.
How will AEPS help NASA’s Gateway achieve its goals, and how will electric propulsion systems continue to advance in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell. This is why we do science.
As always, keep doing the science and keep looking up.
