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The JIMO mission was supposed to have 12 tons of xenon on board, a substantial amount of the yearly production (~ 70 tons). You do wonder how Elon Musk's Starli
by HarryHirsch 7y ago
The JIMO mission was supposed to have 12 tons of xenon on board, a substantial amount of the yearly production (~ 70 tons). You do wonder how Elon Musk's Starlink madness will affect the xenon price.
- tlb 7y agoThe StarLink satellites use krypton thrusters instead of xenon [0]. They need more electic power to run, but produce higher specific impulse [1]. And krypton is cheap. [0] https://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/starlink_press_kit.pdf https://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/starlink_press_kit... [1] http://ngpdlab.engin.umich.edu/electric-propulsion/krypton-HET http://ngpdlab.engin.umich.edu/electric-propulsion/krypton-H...