This is a pretty big deal. The fact that NASA signed up about a year ago to let him test it on ISS makes it worth paying attention to.
The embedded video links on the AdAstra website don't work so great, so here are some YouTube videos posted by one of the AdAstra PhD's yesterday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIg6pWwezEU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bRgK590u-M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvuNUNqW6Sc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs0e2qhxdZ4
Below is the info attached to that first video.
I'd like to see someone here explain what the difference is between this and an ion thrust engine, like the Xenon unit in use on the Dawn spacecraft now. Since I'm posting this, I won't be able to mod up, but if you see such an explanation please mod it up.
Also, can someone explain was those huge RF power outputs are NOT expected to wreak havoc with ISS communications?
-----
Ad Astra Rocket Companys VASIMR® VX-200 rocket prototype reached its highly-coveted 200 kW maximum power milestone at 11:59 am (CST) September 30th 2009 in tests conducted at the companys Houston laboratory. The DC power trace actually exceeded the design requirement by 1 kW and exhibited the clear signature of a well established plateau at peak power. The achievement comes after an intense experimental campaign that began in April 2009 when the engine was fitted with a powerful low temperature superconducting magnet, a critical component that enables VASIMR® to process large amounts of plasma power. The electrical power processing is accomplished using high efficiency, 95%, solid state RF generators built by Nautel Ltd of Halifax, Canada. Demonstration of a 200 kW capability was required to validate, with full scale performance data, the design of the VF-200-1 already underway. The VX-200 turns out to exceed the expected power density of VF-200-1 by about 25%, so this is a robust demonstration of the technology. The VF-200-1 is the first engine that the company plans to fly in space, and it is presently working with NASA to effectuate inspace testing in late 2013 on the International Space Station (ISS).
The total power processed by the engine is distributed between its two electromagnetic stages. The first, tested last July at its full 32 kW power rating, generates the plasma from Argon feedstock gas, while the second energizes it to the desired output conditions. At maximum power, the second stage contributes an additional 168 kW to complete the 200 kW power rating. The 200 kW test is, in effect, a validation of the VASIMR® second stage design, a hitherto untested element of the engine at these tremendous power levels, said Dr. Jared P. Squire, Ad Astras Director of Research and leader of the experimental team conducting the tests. Preliminary data indicate a better than expected power coupling, leading to slightly less thermal stress than originally predicted. These findings will continue to be verified, but the indications point to operation well within the chosen design specifications he said.
Short for Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket, VASIMR® is a new high-power plasma-based space propulsion technology, initially studied by NASA and now being developed privately by Ad Astra. A VASIMR® engine could transport payloads in space far more efficiently and economically than todays chemical rockets. The company envisions an early commercial deployment of the technology, beginning in 2014, to greatly reduce the operational costs of maintaining an evolving space infrastructure, including space stations, satellites, lunar outposts and fuel depots in the Earth-Moon environment. Ultimately, VASIMR® engines could also greatly shorten robotic and human transit times for missions to Mars and beyond.
THE TECHNOLOGY
The VASIMR® engine works with plasma, a very hot gas, at temperatures close to the interior of the Sun. Plasmas are electrically charged fluids that can be heated to extreme temperatures by radio waves and controlled and guided by strong magnetic fields. The magnetic field also insulates any nearby structure, so temperatures well beyond the melting point of materials can be achieved and the resulting plasma can be harnessed to produce propulsion. In rocket propulsion, the higher the temperature of the exhaust gases, the higher their velocity and hence the higher their fuel efficiency. Plasma rockets feature exhaust velocities far above those achievable by their chemical cousins, so their fuel consumption is extremely low and their fuel-related costs substantially reduced.
