Neptune Orbiter, Another proposed mission |
Neptune Orbiter, Another proposed mission |
Nov 10 2005, 03:51 PM
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#101
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Member Group: Members Posts: 509 Joined: 2-July 05 From: Calgary, Alberta Member No.: 426 |
This seems like a good place to start off the Uranus and Neptune forum: with the next ice-giants mission.
I will admit to not knowing a whole lot about the Neptune Orbiter With Probes (NOWP), other than the fact that it's in the planning stages, and a few other details I've gathered from Wikipedia and various other Internet sources. Anyone care to get this one going with a bit more information? |
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Apr 6 2007, 01:37 AM
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#102
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Dublin Correspondent Group: Admin Posts: 1799 Joined: 28-March 05 From: Celbridge, Ireland Member No.: 220 |
QUOTE The unavoidable overhead of propellant storage tank, flow controls, and plumbing in Xe ion engines ... makes their overall efficiency unacceptably low at these power levels." (but they don't cite a reference). This doesn't make sense to me. It's decades since I did any solid materials\fluid dynamics work but I'm certain that a linearly scaled smaller pressure vessel will be able to handle progressively higher pressures. That said it is true that it is harder to build a 1cm diameter fluid management system of a given complexity than (say) a 10cm diameter version of the same thing but the reason for that is that mechanical precision gets harder as machining sclaes diminish not that pressure systems become problematic as scales diminish. MEMS\Microfluidics should be able to provide a solution to all of these problems someday. The general impression that I get is that folks think this is all pie in the sky (at leat for now) but it is worth noting that the microfluidics capabiliies that have been perfected over the past 15 years of Inkjet system development are more than capable of managing a fuel delivery system with the precision and finesse that we require for this sort of engine. Single nozzle control in the pico-litre ( 1E-12 ) scale is a reality today for example. The problem is that all our current technology is geared at doing this for un pressurized room temperature fluids at the earths surface and not for pressurized low temperature fluids in space\vacuum. |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 4th June 2024 - 10:14 AM |
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