This article highlights how exploration of deep space requires systems of propulsion that can go the distance. To explore the outer planets in a reasonable time, engines must generate either high exhaust velocity or high specific impulse. The United States recognized early the benefit that nuclear propulsion could provide for interplanetary exploration and ran an extensive research and development program devoted to it. Electric propulsion devices require an energy source and an electric generation method in order to operate. Engines being engineered for deep space missions are, out of necessity, fueled by clean energy from light gas atoms. The fuels are brought to certain physical states and subjected to electric or magnetic fields that accelerate and eject charged particles out of the engine, thereby giving momentum to the spacecraft. These new deep space engines will enable to send missions to the far reaches of the solar system and beyond with exploratory instruments.
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January 2003
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Engines for the Cosmos
Exploration of the Deep Space Requires Systems of Propulsion that Can Go the Distance.
Al Reisz is a Fellow of ASME and president of Reisz Engineers in Huntsville, Ala.
Steve Rodgers is the manager of the Propulsion Research Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.
Mechanical Engineering. Jan 2003, 125(01): 50-53 (4 pages)
Published Online: January 1, 2003
Citation
Reisz, A. I., and Rodgers, S. L. (January 1, 2003). "Engines for the Cosmos." ASME. Mechanical Engineering. January 2003; 125(01): 50–53. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2003-JAN-4
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