hi guys,

only me

just wondering - i saw something on the news a
while back about a European Space mission.
Anyone know what's happening about that?

will

It was something about a probe* that used a new, ion-propulsion system rather than conventional thrusters. It consists of a container of Xenon gas. Solar panels generate electricity to ionize the gas, before expelling it into space.

Now, the current generated from these panels is weak, and only a tiny amount of gas can be ionized at one time. In earth gravity, the force produced by the thruster would be barely enough to lift a single empty envelope. But, over the long haul (weeks and months), the ion-propulsion can produce 4-5 times more thrust a than a conventional unit of the same size, before running out of xenon gas.

Incidentally, this is the same principle that 'Star Trek' ion-drives use. It seems like such a simple system; I wonder why it took them so long to implement it in real life.

*That is, if we're talking about the same mission:P

That Ion drive probe is cool I think that probe is capable of going at 10% the speed of light, or it is now... something like that.

Insufficient data to answer question: define European space mission.

Launches from European territory? (that would include all launches from Esrange and Plesetsk Cosmodrome)
Missions with European lifters? (e.g. Ariane)
Missions involving European astro/kosmonauts or equipment? (that would include almost all ISS missions for example)
Missions done in cooperation with one or more European nations?
Missions carried out entirely by ESA?

ion systems can go very fast, the reason being that all you need is time, like any purpulsion system in space. ion engines are just best suited to the task of extended periods of thurst. If you got enough light, and enough gas, you can make an ion engine travel rather darn fast, course you'd have to wait for it to speed up

yeh, sorry i wasn't too specific.

ion-propulsion.
that was why it stuck in my memory - i remembered
reading about it years ago in Astronomy Now.
I too thought it was strange that it had taken so
long to be made use of and also why the Europeans
are doing it first

thx

I remember hearing something about that type of propulsion system a few years ago. Either they were just developing it then, or they tested it once and it failed, I can't remember any specifics.

This isn't the first time an ion propulsion system has been used - both NASA and ESA have used it on probes (NASA's comet rendez-vous probe from a few years ago) and satellites (ESA's Artemis satellite was recovered from a too-low orbit thanks to its ion drive) before...

Slightly off topic.
Astronaut is an American in space.
Cosmonaut is a Russian in space.
Taikonaut is a Chinese in space.
Shouldn't every country have their own version? For example it should be called rymdonaut in Sweden.

Except that 'Taikonaut' is a Western invention that isn't used in China

And even more off-topic, I think that Cosmonaut is a much better term than Astronaut, seeing as we haven't traveled to any stars yet

But what about the Europeans in general? The problem is that in what language the word "space" should be taken from? Esperanto? Latin? Or just call them "euronaults"

Euronauts sounds good i think.

Euronaut? Someone who navigates across Europe?

Well, it sometimes looks like you have arrived at another world.

I was on a Euronaut mission to France by car once.

I guess the Simpsons are D'ohnauts.

I think Cosmonaut is the best word for it.
Cosmo Kramer, the assman!

This is such a crap post.:-[