Russian engineers created a rocket engine that works on iodine
Russian engineers created a rocket engine that works on iodine
The creation of new types of engines for space rockets is one of the priorities of the world aerospace agencies. And recently it became known that experts of the Rocket and Space Corporation Energia developed and patented a new type of electric propulsion system using reactive iodine. Moreover, in the near future it is planned to begin the first serious tests of the system.
The idea of using reactive iodine as a fuel is not new. It was proposed in the 90th years by the senior scientific employee of the Corporation Valery Ostrovsky. And only in the middle of the 2000s the company managed to obtain the necessary patents. Work on a new type of engine started in 2012. The first versions of the device were equipped with a gas distribution device, the launch was carried out on xenon, and iodine maintained the discharge. Then the designers began to develop an iodine supply system.
The advantage of this approach is its high efficiency. In existing electric propulsion engines, xenon is used as a working fluid, which is extremely expensive. Also, the supply and storage system of xenon is quite complex, which increases the dimensions and mass of the propulsion system. Iodine is excellently stored in a solid state and can be easily converted to gas. But that's not all: in such a system, iodine recycling is possible, which saves fuel significantly. As one of the project managers, engineer-designer Pavel Scherbina,
The ground tests of the propulsion system will be carried out by the developers at the end of June. The prototype engine will be equipped with a waste cathode neutralizer, which will do without an additional gaseous working fluid - xenon or argon. Such an engine can be used as a march or for correction of the orbit, for example, on communication satellites, as well as in solving transport problems of the outer space. "
It also became known that in 2022 the Ostrovsky experiment is planned (it is called, as it is not hard to guess in honor of the author of the idea of creating an engine). The iodine electroshield engine will undergo two phases of testing: the first part on board the ISS, and the second - using the Progress cargo vehicle, which will have to undock and be in orbit for a month on iodine engines.
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