3 ms·
I’d argue that being chemically inert is a property that can be compared and marked as “identical”, but that’s just semantics. Technically they’re called Ion T
by ashtonkem 5y ago
I’d argue that being chemically inert is a property that can be compared and marked as “identical”, but that’s just semantics.
Technically they’re called Ion Thrusters. They’re just colloquially called Xenon Thrusters because xenon is the most commonly used gas to use due to its weight. Perhaps radon could work too, I’m no expert, but I imagine the radioactivity is an issue.
- Robotbeat 5y agoUsually these type are called Hall Thrusters. Ion thrusters (Gridded Ion Thrusters, the full name) work a bit differently internally than Hall Thrusters, but overall system behaves the same. The general term is “electric propulsion,” as in Nuclear Electric Propulsion or Solar Electric Propulsion.
- Turing_Machine 5y agoThere's also thermal (non-ionized) electric propulsion, e.g., arcjet (which heats the propellant with an electric arc) and resistojet (which heats the propellant with a resistance heater). Both arcjet and resistojet have been used on some satellites. The nice thing about those is that they don't rely as much on the physical or chemical properties of the propellant. Just about anything that can be vaporized by an arc or heating element will work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcjet_rocket https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcjet_rocket https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistojet_rocket https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistojet_rocket