Dual Stage Four Grid Thruster Development
Breaking news
ANU and ESA make space propulsion breakthrough
Summary
A very new concept in electric propulsion, the Dual Stage 4 Grid (DS4G) ion thruster for interplanetary space craft was successfully tested in late 2005 by the European Space Agency and the Australian National University. Under contract to ESA, the experimental ion engine was developed and manufactured at the ANU in the surprisingly short time of 4 months by a small team of experts lead by Dr Orson Sutherland of the Space Plasma Power and Propulsion Group. The ESA group was lead by Dr. Roger Walker, Research Fellow in Advanced Propulsion for the Advanced Concepts Team
and Technical Manager of the project on the ESA side.
The new computer-based engine design developed by Dr Sutherland specifically for the DS4G allows much higher voltages to be used than previously thought possible, resulting in a more powerful post acceleration of the extracted ions. The thruster was tested in a large space simulation chamber in the ESA Technology centre in the Netherlands at a remarkable 30kV and produced an ion exhaust plume that travelled at 210km/s, over four times faster than state-of-the-art ion engine designs achieve. “This makes it four times more fuel efficient, and enables an engine design far more compact than present thrusters to be achieved” said Professor Boswell, the laboratory head. “This is an ultra-ion engine. It has exceeded the current crop by many times and opens up a whole new frontier of exploration possibilities,” Dr Walker is quoted as saying in the ESA press release.
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This website is designed as a resource for the general public, media, researchers and prospective students that contains the latest information about the development of the DS4G.
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