The project is based on an effective and promising technology of gas ionization in vacuum using porous membranes
TASS, July 12. The Mozhaisky Military Space Academy and Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University have developed an ion electric motor that can be used for deep space exploration in the future.
"[At present] research is underway to create electric rocket engines and entire propulsion platforms based on them to perform transport operations in space, to transfer vehicles from intermediate orbits to working ones. The relevance of this direction prompted the largest educational institutions of St. Petersburg - the Military Space Academy named after A. F. Mozhaisky and Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University to create a creative team to conduct theoretical and experimental research on the development of a new generation ion electric rocket engine, " says Nikolai Shunevich, head of the laboratory of the Military Space Academy named after A. F. Mozhaisky, senior researcher at the Military Institute Viktor Martynov, published in the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda.
As specified in the article, the project is based on an effective and promising technology for gas ionization in vacuum using porous membranes. "To confirm the capabilities of the new technology, the theoretical calculation of the engine design elements and mathematical modeling of the ionization process were performed, a laboratory sample of a new generation electric rocket engine was made, the vacuum system was modernized for firing tests of the sample," Shunevich and Martynov note.
To conduct the tests, the article says, high-voltage power sources, a system of metered supply of the working fluid, a device for evaluating the traction force were created. "A laboratory sample of a new generation electric rocket engine has confirmed its operability," the staff of the Military Space Academy stressed.
The laboratory sample worked steadily on various types of fuel. Along with the traditionally used xenon, argon, helium, elegaz and air were used as the working medium. "The results obtained formed the basis for a number of scientific papers, publications, reports and patent research," the article says.