There's no technical information in this article. Anyone have a better link?
But, there are some pretty high speeds involved!
If VLEO orbit is something like 18k mph, and each molecule that they accelerate is stopped an then accelerated, then a net zero force would be accelerating it out the back at 18k mph.
And, say the cross sectional area of the aperture to catch it all was 0.5 the total cross sectional area, then a speed of 36k mph would be required!
Wow!? Maybe not? Is it hard to accelerate molecules in space? Are they maybe accelerating them as they pass through, rather than stopping them and then accelerating them? I would assume you would have to stop them, to ionize them, to then accelerate them?
I would presume the goal is to have an electromagnetic accelerator of inbound charged ions to serve as thrust. You can get limitless power from solar, but propellent mass is a limiter.
But, there are some pretty high speeds involved!
If VLEO orbit is something like 18k mph, and each molecule that they accelerate is stopped an then accelerated, then a net zero force would be accelerating it out the back at 18k mph.
And, say the cross sectional area of the aperture to catch it all was 0.5 the total cross sectional area, then a speed of 36k mph would be required!
Wow!? Maybe not? Is it hard to accelerate molecules in space? Are they maybe accelerating them as they pass through, rather than stopping them and then accelerating them? I would assume you would have to stop them, to ionize them, to then accelerate them?