ion engine


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ion engineion engine
  • noun

Words related to ion engine

nouna type of reaction-propulsion engine to propel rockets in space

Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in periodicals archive ?
While the ion engine was able to keep the spacecraft aloft, its thrust was far too weak -- "more or less equal what you normally exert on a piece of paper when you exhale,'' Floberghagen said -- to push the spacecraft to a trajectory that would ensure that it ended up in an empty stretch of ocean.
It took 16 months to get Hayabusa back under JAXAAAEs full control and to rev up the ion engines that would serve as the central power for the craft.
In early February 2009 this probe ignited a single ion engine to begin pulsing it for up to 8 000 hours to propel it back towards the Earth.
Launched into Earth's orbit by an Ariane-5 booster rocket from French Guiana, in September 2003, SMART-1 used its ion engine to raise its orbit over 14 months until the moon's gravity grabbed it.
Smart-1 was designed to test a new means of propulsion called the ion engine.
An ion engine, just 12" in diameter, is the main propulsion source for Deep Space 1 (DS1)--a 20th Century spacecraft now off on its primary mission to validate technologies for 21st century spacecraft.
Its journey was powered, at least in part by an ion engine, itself the stuff of science fiction just a few years ago.
The cleverly designed satellite carries an innovative ion engine that instantly compensates for any drag by generating carefully calculated thrusts.
? THE slowest mission to the Moon was the ESA SMART-1 lunar probe which was launched on September 27, 2003, powered by an ion engine. It took one year, one month and two weeks to get there on November 11, 2004.
The tiny moon explorer, the size of a small washing machine, will be powered by an ion engine using solar electric propulsion.
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After a little more than a year in space, the Dawn probe has completed the main phase of using its super-efficient (but low-power) ion engine to help it on its way.
In June 1996, a prototype xenon ion engine built at Lewis began long-duration tests in a vacuum chamber at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and recorded more than 8,000 hours of operation.