Ion Engine Breakthrough

[Metal Soldier]

The European Space Agency and the Australian National University have successfully tested a new design of spacecraft ion engine that dramatically improves performance over present thrusters and marks a major step forward in space propulsion capability.

Ion engines are a form of electric propulsion and work by accelerating a beam of positively charged particles (or ions) away from the spacecraft using an electric field. ESA is currently using electric propulsion on its Moon mission, SMART-1. The new engine is over ten times more fuel efficient than the one used on SMART-1. "Using a similar amount of propellant as SMART-1, with the right power supply, a future spacecraft using our new engine design wouldn't just reach the Moon, it would be able to leave the Solar System entirely," says Dr Roger Walker of ESA's Advanced Concepts Team, Research Fellow in Advanced Propulsion and Technical Manager of the project.
More at Physorg. (http://www.physorg.com/news9786.html)

Cool stuff, I hope things go well in the extended trials. I want to see more space travel.

[FreshDebesh]

I'm still waiting on the Warp Engine.

[thefrozenred]

Found a prototype of the first NASA spacecraft to use the new engine:



http://www.technovelgy.com/graphics/TIE-Fighter.jpg

[Greyryder]

So, how long before I can buy an ion cannon?

[Gigatron_2005]

Found a prototype of the first NASA spacecraft to use the new engine:



http://www.technovelgy.com/graphics/TIE-Fighter.jpg

Thats the next generation Twin Ion Engine model. ;)

[aksmth]

Looks cool enough. Might increase the odds of manned missions to Mars etc...

[llamatron]

So, how long before I can buy an ion cannon?

Well you could buy one now, but it would probably be damn expensive and somewhat impractical. ;)

It's good to see some progress being made in that field. Although to be honest I would much rather see the effort and resources being poured into something more worthwhile. I do love space exploration but there are just too many problems here on Earth that require attention and funds. You know, some climate change, a bit of aids, perhaps a few starving nations...

[Gigatron_2005]

It's good to see some progress being made in that field. Although to be honest I would much rather see the effort and resources being poured into something more worthwhile. I do love space exploration but there are just too many problems here on Earth that require attention and funds. You know, some climate change, a bit of aids, perhaps a few starving nations...


I say its easier to start Earth over. Mars #1!!!! :rock

[MegaMoonMan]

Well you could buy one now, but it would probably be damn expensive and somewhat impractical. ;)

It's good to see some progress being made in that field. Although to be honest I would much rather see the effort and resources being poured into something more worthwhile. I do love space exploration but there are just too many problems here on Earth that require attention and funds. You know, some climate change, a bit of aids, perhaps a few starving nations...

Space travel and exploration could lead to discoveries that could help alleviate those very problems, so I don't find the effort and resources put into these endeavors a waste at all.

[llamatron]

Space travel and exploration could lead to discoveries that could help alleviate those very problems, so I don't find the effort and resources put into these endeavors a waste at all.

To a degree yes. The technologies and processes developed while trying to further our space capabilities can have applications to things here on Earth. However, we have many problems that need urgent attention. Going and sending a crew to Mars is probably not going to help us out too much - there's no chance we can colonize it within the immediate future, however there is a very real chance that millions of people will die from potentially preventable diseases, poverty, hunger, etc in the *very* immediate future.

I do have a very real interest in space and those areas of science and I realise that advancement in that field is a good idea and can be very necessary.

[aksmth]

To a degree yes. The technologies and processes developed while trying to further our space capabilities can have applications to things here on Earth. However, we have many problems that need urgent attention. Going and sending a crew to Mars is probably not going to help us out too much - there's no chance we can colonize it within the immediate future, however there is a very real chance that millions of people will die from potentially preventable diseases, poverty, hunger, etc in the *very* immediate future.

I do have a very real interest in space and those areas of science and I realise that advancement in that field is a good idea and can be very necessary.


So you don't see how the ability to feed a crew with no resupply line for the year and change that a trip to Mars would take doesn't have application to Earth based problems. Or how said astronauts will be able to recieve medical help with the nearest MD a few million miles away might make Earthbound medicine any better?

[Streck]

If we waited until everything was fixed here before going out into space, we'd never fucking leave.

[llamatron]

So you don't see how the ability to feed a crew with no resupply line for the year and change that a trip to Mars would take doesn't have application to Earth based problems. Or how said astronauts will be able to recieve medical help with the nearest MD a few million miles away might make Earthbound medicine any better?

The technologies and processes developed while trying to further our space capabilities can have applications to things here on Earth.

In further answer, it's much more effective to just solve these problems directly rather than just let them come as a by-product of a mission to mars. But if (due to various reasons - funding, government, etc) that's what it takes before these advancements are made, then it's good that at least that might happen. It may be 20, 50, 100 years before we can actually seriously think about sending a crew to Mars. So, it'll be that long before those mentioned technologies are developed for the mission. However, if enough effort was put into it, we could probably solve those problems within the next few years.

If we waited until everything was fixed here before going out into space, we'd never fucking leave.

That is very true.

Like I previously stated - I love me some space exploration and advancement. There are many important things that come out of it (ie satellites and global communication) - BUT - there are *more important* things to be done. Things that could use the huge amount of money and resources that go into some space research. I am not saying that we should go and shut down NASA, ESA and shoot the HST out of the sky (although to be fair it's not much use anymore...) - those things are all useful and important - I just think that sometimes our priorities are a little out of order.

[King Starscream]

Just be patient. The Vulcans will arrive in the 2060's and all our problems will be taken care of.

[llamatron]

Just be patient. The Vulcans will arrive in the 2060's and all our problems will be taken care of.

Unicron didn't show up last year, so I just don't know anymore...

[Greyryder]

It's good to see some progress being made in that field. Although to be honest I would much rather see the effort and resources being poured into something more worthwhile. I do love space exploration but there are just too many problems here on Earth that require attention and funds. You know, some climate change, a bit of aids, perhaps a few starving nations...

But, we already have all of that stuff. :p

[King Starscream]

Unicron didn't show up last year, so I just don't know anymore...

That's cause he took a trip to Cybertron and it's bite sized moons. Earth was never on the menu . . . er . . itinerary. So hope is not lost.

[Streck]

It may be 20, 50, 100 years before we can actually seriously think about sending a crew to Mars.
Hell, it might be longer than that, especially if we're always diverting resources away from the pursuit of space. The only way that those technologies and our eventual colonization can come about is if we see them as a constant priority - problems to be attacked with as much vigor and determination as any other international goal. It is not necessary that alleviating hunger and disease must entail a scaling back or abandonment of our space programs, especially since, as I see it, the problem has never primarily been about money or resources. It's about the attitudes and methodologies with which people and governments approach those issues. (Unfortunately, I can't say much more on that without turning the discussion political.)

[llamatron]

Streck I believe you are pretty much correct - politics unfortantly do play a role...

[Dark_Convoy]

If we waited until everything was fixed here before going out into space, we'd never fucking leave.
So true.

From what I understand the Ion Engine is very fuel efficient, but also on the slow side, requiring a good amount of time to build up speed. The advance I am excited about is the plasma engine, which are just as fuel efficient, but much more powerful:

Plasma Engine Could Open Up Space Exploration (http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/esa_new__plasma_thruster.html) from Universe Today (http://www.universetoday.com)

[Ops_was_a_truck]

That article...is all sorts of awesome. Yay breakthroughs in technologies of the future!

[RabidYak]

the problem has never primarily been about money or resources. It's about the attitudes and methodologies with which people and governments approach those issues. (Unfortunately, I can't say much more on that without turning the discussion political.)

I read a good article last year in the Sunday Times mag about a white farmer who got kicked out of some pathetic African dictatorship (probably Zimbabwe) and set up shop in a more reasonable country nearby. He ended up turning a corner of this country into a massive tabacco producing operation, which created a sucessful community and a functioning local economy that dramatically raised the quality of life for the hundreds of natives that that he employed.

What was really good thougth was that he did it all with no external investment whatsoever. Apparently the aid agencies and financial organisations won't give money to tobacco farming because they see it as an immoral commodity to produce, despite the fact that its something thats in much higher demand (and hence much more profitable) then the massively overproduced and oversubsidised crops that they will invest in like cotton and wheat.

Just goes to show how little a clue the likes of Geldof and Bono have about actually fixing the problems down there when they come on TV and carp on about how evil we all are for not giving blank cheques to the local despots.

[Cruellock]

First comes the weapons made from the new technology, THEN it's made into something that could benefit people. That's the way the world unfortunetly works right now.

[Omnibus Prime]

I do love space exploration but there are just too many problems here on Earth that require attention and funds. You know, some climate change, a bit of aids, perhaps a few starving nations...

Nonsense. We need to expand our reach into space so we can still have all those problems...but on an interstellar level.

Always found it (intentionally?) ironic/funny that Star Trek, especially TNG, always made a point to imply that we'd essentially solved all such problems on Earth, but faced war, famine, disease, trade disputes, oppressive governments, military regimes, immigration problems, etc. etc., even 'warp pollution', everywhere they went.

[Wing alpha]

Unicron didn't show up last year, so I just don't know anymore...
for all we know trasformers are figthing a secret war, also we dont even have a clue where the hell is cybertron. for all we know the chaos bringer is bidding his time moving towards earth AND EAT US :D :D :D :lol