this is how the world will end in 2012 (see last paragraph)
New ion engine could reach Mars in 39 days
Last week astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins both called for NASA to make Mars its next goal. But the standard chemical propulsion system would take six months to get to Mars and cost hundreds of billions of dollars. However, a new ion plasma rocket being developed by another former astronaut, Franklin Chang-Diaz, could potentially reach Mars in just 39 days using a fraction of the fuel.
Chang-Diaz’s prototype doesn’t achieve propulsion by combusting fuel but, rather, by superheating atoms to create and expel a plasma plume.
Named VASIMR, the system consists of three linked magnetic cells. The first stage works a bit like a kettle, heating the atoms of a neutral gas like argon with a radio frequency (RF) generator until electrons “boil” off, creating plasma.
The plasma is now very hot – about 50,000 degrees Celsius – but not hot enough to produce efficient thrust. The second stage of VASIMR acts as an amplifier, further energizing the plasma using electromagnetic waves. By now, the plasma reaches about a million degrees, comparable to the center of the sun.
The third and final stage is converts the energy into directed motion and, ultimately, high velocity thrust. And, in case you’re wondering how anything so hot could be possibly contained, that’s one of the reasons the cells are all magnetic. A magnetic field not only helps heat plasma but also contains it, so it won’t ever actually touch anything.
Chang-Diaz and his colleagues are readying VASIMR for a 2012 test with NASA on the International Space Station. It could just be the beginning of a new power in long-distance space travel.
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