Mapping a Path to the Solar System and
Beyond
Franklin R. Chang DíazAd Astra
RocketCompanyHouston, TX
We have learned to live and work efficiently in space
But we are still very close to home
And we long to move outward
And we long to move outward
And we long to move outward
Saturn Mission
Titan closest approach Oct. 2004
Titan Huygens Landing Jan. 14, 2005
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Enceladus March 2006
How do we go to these places fast?
Chemical rockets will not be suitable for these journeys
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Thrust and power of a rocket
THRUST
umT ×=
400500020000005,000,000,000
muTP
====
Example:
Newtons
m/sec
kg/sec
212
P m u= ×POWER
Watts
The best chemical rocket
Isp = 450
To reach higher temperatures we move
into plasma physics
(limited by materials and the temperature
of chemical reactions)
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
• Plasma is a super heated gas made up of free electrons and ions. It is sometimes called the 4th state of matter and makes up 99% of the visible universe.
Propulsion
Lightning The sun Stars and nebulae Plasma
processing
Many others
What is Plasma?
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Propulsion technologies ranked by specific impulse (Isp)higher is better
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
The Propellant Issue
fuel oxidizer
exhaust
thrust
fuel
exhaust
thrust
Chemical rocket Electric rocket
electricity
Low fuel efficiency
Low temperature
High temperature
High fuel efficiency
Electric rockets are more fuel efficient.
Use electricity rather than chemical
combustion to produce hot exhaust gases.
Solar panels
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Propellant feed Ionizing antenna
(helicon)
Magnetic field lines
Exhaust
Heating antenna (ICRF)
Plasma
Superconducting Magnet coils
RF generators
POWER
Thrust
The VASIMR Concept
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
nn
nn
ii
ii
ICRF heating
(Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequencies)
Injected electromagnetic waves accelerate the ions by resonating at magnetic beach with their fundamental cyclotron frequency (and associated harmonics.)
Magnetic Nozzle
When particles see an expanding magnetic field, they are accelerated
axially at the expense of their rotational motion.
Ions get extra kick from ambipolar electric field
Both ions and electrons leave at the same rate
Plasma Source
RF waves establish a “helicon”discharge, which ionizes neutral gas to produce a dense plasma with an electron temperature of a few eV
--
--
Physics of VASIMR
+ -
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Important Advantages
• No electrodes or other materials in direct contact with the plasma.
• Therefore, potential for very high power density, high reliability, long life.
• Multiple propellants: Helium, Hydrogen, Deuterium, Nitrogen, Argon, Neon, Xenon, others…
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
VX-200 prototype development
Thermal subsystem
Superconducting magnet subsystem
Plasma experiments
Cryogenic subsystemRF subsystem
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Ad Astra Rocket Company FormallyOrganized July 15, 2005
Wholly owned subsidiary in Costa Rica Established October 2005
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Present Status
• Conducting high power experiments with Argon
• Major development of VX-200 prototype
• Two new vacuum chambers to support new experimental facilities
• New Houston location
• Both companies fully operational
• Negotiating Investment SPVs (special purpose vehicles) in Costa Rica, USA and Europe
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
VX-50 Experiment at JSC
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
VX-100 Installation, Nov 2006
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
VX-50 Recent Results
• Significant flow velocity with neon, about 4000 second equivalent Isp.
• Three different measurement techniques.
• VX-100 will enable similar results with Argon to achieve our specific impulse goal.
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.40
1
2
3
4
5
6
7x 104
time (seconds)
velo
city
(m/s
)
fluxprobe/interferometerRPA
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
VX-50 promising performance
• Using flow velocity and measured flux we can calculate a jet power and efficiency of the acceleration process, 50 to 75%.
• About 0.5 N of apparent thrust, with only about 30 kW of power.
• This is agrees with predictions and validates predictions for VX-200 performance.
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
The Economics
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Lower fuel launch costs
• The cost of launching rocket fuel into space is a major driver in the cost of space operations.
• Plasma rockets require much less fuel to operate
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Cost effective Moon cargo capability VASIMR delivers the highest fraction of the initial mass in low Earth orbit (IMLEO) to the Moon vs. a chemical thruster or the Hall thruster, thereby reducing the cost per kg.
• Here, VASIMR can deliver 39% of IMLEO to the Moon’s surface.
• Hall thruster: 32%.
• Chemical: 17%
Cargo ship elements see slide
32
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Lower intrinsic fuel costs
50ManufacturedAmmonia2120.03.0x10-5 (ppm)Xe42.03.2 (ppm)Argon250.05.0x10-3 (ppm)Neon4.020 (ppm)Nitrogen
7,700.0.00015 of seawaterDeuterium1,010.0 0.11 of seawaterHydrogen
Market Price($/kg)
Earth abundance(by weight)
Propellant(listed by increasing
weight)
• VASIMR uses less expensive and more abundant fuels: hydrogen, argon, neon, potentially ammonia.
• Competing electric rockets such as the ion engine and the Hall thruster use Xenon, a rare and expensive gas.
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
The Plan
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
• Near term goals:
– demonstrating VASIMR in space
– developing a generic electric power and propulsion test platform for attachment to the International Space Station (ISS).
The Plan
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
The Market
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Electric Power Requirements
• For missions near Earth and The Moon, the electricity will come from solar panels.
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Collaboration with ENTECH Inc.
• Advanced solar power technology for space applications– ENTECH to build 100kW
solar array for the VF-200-1 VASIMR engine
– Electric power density is 300 Watt/m2 (technology improvement expected to 400 Watt/m2
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Electric Power Requirements
• For missions to Mars and beyond, the electricity must come from nuclear reactors.
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Concept by Prof. Samim Anghaie, Director, Innovative Nuclear Space Power and Propulsion Institute, INSPI; University of Florida, Gainesville.
Vapor Core Reactor with MHD power conversion
VASIMR configuration with Vapor Core Reactor System
Space Nuclear Power
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Radiation is a big problem
• Not from the nuclear reactor…but from space itself
• Solar flares (eruptions)
• Cosmic rays
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Potential solutions
• We go fast!• Magnetic shielding• Material shielding • All of the above
Depth, g/cm20 10 20 30 40 50
GC
R D
ose,
mSv
/day0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
Aluminum
Water
Polyethylene
Liquid hydrogen
Magnetic shielding.
Liquid hydrogen shielding.
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
High thrust Earth spiral (30days)
HeliocentricTrajectory(85days)
Robotic Mars orbitinsertion
Isp profile forpiloted segment
Crew Lander(60.8 mT Payload)31.0 mT Habitat13.5 mT Aeroshell16.3 mT Descent System
Departing LEOMay 6, 2018
188 mT IMLEO12 MW power plant
α = 4 kg/kW
115day Mission Architecture
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
200MW Earth to Mars Missionsα = 0.5; Maximal Isp = 30,000
Payload Mass 22 MT
Total Initial Spiraling around Earth Heliocentric trajectory Final relative Total tripMass (mT) fuel (mT) time (days) fuel (mT) time (days) velocity (km/s) time (days)
600 180 7 298 34 0 41350 117 5 111 42 0 47250 88 4 40 49 0 53
600 152 8 324 31 6.8 39
High Power dramatically reduces trip time
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Superconducting toroidal radiation
shield
Other Ship Architectures
Crew compartment
Lander Liquid hydrogen tanks
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
• Modularity• Suitable for both cargo and piloted
missions• Redundancy
Power and Propulsion Module
System Design
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Asteroid Missions
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Strong participation of students at both graduate and undergraduate levels
Industry• MEI Technologies• Creare Inc.• TYR• ManSat (Isle of Man)• Entech Inc.• Nautel Ltd. (Canada)• Everson Tesla• Scientific Magnetics (U.K)
Academia• UT-Austin • Rice U• U of Maryland• U of Houston• U Alabama H.• MIT• U Florida• U Michigan
Government• NASA
• DOE: ORNL, LANL
International• National Center for High Technology (Costa Rica)• Australian National University• Alfvén Laboratory (Sweden)• kyushu University (Japan)• University College Dublin (Ireland)
Collaboration
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Costa Rica subsidiary
• Established Oct. 28, 2005• Formally incorporated Nov. 15, 2005 to support USA
operation• Initial engineering tasks:
– Helicon plasma source thermal management– Life testing of VASIMR components– Engineering support of hazardous waste processing
using plasma technology • Initial 700 m2 laboratory facility in EARTH La Flor
campus
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Architectural concept
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Construction Initiated Feb. 16, 2006
12/28/05
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Facility Inauguration July 15, 2006
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
The Team
Ad Astra Rocket Company, U. S. A
First Plasma Dec 13, 2006
Top Related