X3 Ion Thruster

X3 ION THRUSTER

X3

Hey everyone,

                         I'm back with an interesting topic which may look like it is straight out of a sci-fi movie but it is absolutely real. This tech is going to help us reach Mars.

Currently, we use chemical rockets which uses solid or liquid fuel. When we ignite this fuel with fire it gives the rocket enough thrusting power to reach earth's escape velocity to enter space. This chemical rockets may seem like a suitable idea for exploring the space around us but when it comes to going to mars this won't work, It doesn't have enough power and thrusting capability and it will be exhausted. This is were ION thruster comes into use because to reach Mars or cover interplanetary distance we need more speed and at the same time we must use less propellant.

chemical propulsion

Okay, so how X3 system works?

The X3 is the NASA's new space engine that's all electric. The electric propulsion systems have 10x propellant efficiency compared to chemical systems. For example, a chemical rocket can reach 40,000mph but this X3 engine can top at 500,000mph. At this speed, we can reach the moon in just 30 minutes.

The X3 is a type of electric propulsion design called the Hall thruster. In hall effect thrusters we take a propellant, in some cases an inert gas like xenon. Then we put a huge amount of energy into it to create a high-temperature plasma which is some charged particles of electrons and ions and then we use electromagnetic fields to shoot out the plasma at very high speed.

Pretty simple right? This is already being used(I mean electric propulsion systems) to make the satellites around us stay in orbit. We didn't figure out a way to use this tech for manned missions because the accelerating power of these electric thrusters is very low. So now we came up with X3.

The traditional hall thrusters operate between 1-6KW but the X3 is being designed to operate from 6-200KW. This is because with more power comes more thrust hence higher acceleration. The X3 uses three plasma channels while the traditional method just uses one. So, we can see the engineering needed to build this will also be 3 times more.

Some more insights

The X3 is tested at the Large Vacuum Test Facility(LVTF). The facility uses 19 cryogenic pumps to simulate a space environment. Even this facility could not test the X3 to its full potential so currently, it is being tested at NASA's Glenn research facility to test and understand its full potential.

closer look

                                                           

Normal thruster weighs around 10lbs(4.5kg) but the X3 weighs around 500lbs(226kg). This possesses a huge challenge in building it.

The X3 thrusters are going to be the one to back us up in interplanetary travel or the trip to Mars.

Fact Flash:

The X3 set three records last year(2018):

The highest power level of hall effect thrusters at 100KW.

The highest level of thrust 5.4 Newtons of thrust.

The highest amount of current being passed through 260 Amperes.

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