The ion motor and spaceflight

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Kimmo Huosionmaa

The ion motor is interesting equipment, what is planned to use in the space flight. One of the most interesting ion-motor types is the thing, what is called as: "plasma-ion motor". This type of ion motor uses actually iron stream for giving the punch for the rocket and in one version of interplanetary space flight the ion rocket would use the dust of iron ore, what would be heated in extreme high temperature by using electric arc, and then the system would use magnetic accelerators to push that iron stream backward. The secret of ion motors is that those systems can use any kind of ions for creating the punch, and in many theories the punch, what iron motor gives is very soft.

Ion accelerating systems would use only grams of ions for giving the power to the spacecraft, and the accelerating those spacecraft would take years. In normal theories, the ion rocket would be assembled in the orbiter, where the parts of the rocket would shoot by using traditional rockets. And then the ion motor would start to operate, and that motor can use any kind of ions. But if we would make the ion rocket, what would use electric arcs to vaporize iron, would that rocket shoot from the seas. In this scenario, the rocket would first use the water as the propellant, what takes the rocket out of the atmosphere.

The electric arc would replace the combustion in the rockets combustion chamber. And then the tanks would be filled by using the iron ore, what would vaporize by using a nuclear reactor. Then that iron steam would be driven backward by using the particle accelerator. This system can use any ions, what has the same polar capacity with iron, and that means that the system can use any material in the universe as the propellant. The fascinating idea of the ion motors is to use the metal, what is found from the asteroid belt as the propellant.

And the only thing, what is important is that those ions, what propellant creates would have similar polarity. But when we are thinking about ion cannons, what are actually the modified ion motors, those weapons would need only the ions, what have two different polarities. In this case, if the ions would have plus capacity, and at the same time, would shoot the electrons by the particle accelerators, what have two lines, what are one inside another, would the minus mark electrons keep the plus mark ions in the same beam, what makes possible to use ions as the weapon.

The ion cannons are very devastating because those beams would pass even the strong wall, and when they would stop, they start to release their energy. And that makes possible to shoot the targets thru the wall, and then the ions will be stopped by using the magnetic field. This capacity makes possible to destroy nuclear reactors without harming the protective building, and that could limit the radioactive fallout.

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The giant accelerator would allow interstellar traveling

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Kimmo Huosionmaa

The power source for interstellar traveling is the major problem in those futuristic spacecraft. If we are thinking about Warp-drive, what can travel faster than light, we must realize, that we would need the brand new technology, in the very giant scale. The spacecraft that would travel faster than light must be base the technology, what is ever created in the real life, and making this technology really is the very complicated process. The shape of the spacecraft would be like some science fiction spacecraft, what uses antimatter or WARP-propulsion for increasing the speed of 80-90 percent of the speed of light.


And in this spacecraft would be particle accelerator, what could be like the linear version of "Hedron", what is located in CERN. That accelerator would be like some extreme long tube at the nose of the spacecraft, what might be quite similar, what is planned to use in "Project Thor". The difference would be that the device is equipped with antimatter-motors, what will accelerate it for speed, what is near the speed of light, and then the accelerator would be launched. But the size of this spacecraft would be much bigger, what is planned for "Thor".


The interstellar spacecraft would first accelerate the top speed, what could be something like 90 percent of the speed of light, and the particle accelerator would shoot the capsule to the top speed. The problem of this hypothetical spacecraft would be the size of this thing. The accelerator must be over hundreds of kilometers long, and the electricity, what is used in this gigantic rail gun is very high. This spacecraft would be built in the space, and it would be very huge. If it sometimes would be made.


So there must be the very powerful power source, that this very huge spacecraft would be worked. And after the spacecraft have been shot by the railgun there is no return back. The capsule would fly to Alpha Centaur in about two years, but the problem is the slowing. And of course, the home trip would be difficult. In one scenario this spacecraft would use sophisticated artificial intelligence, and it would have sub-robots, what would build another accelerator at the orbiter of the target star.


This kind of artificial intelligence could also make the copy of the spacecraft if that is damaged. This technology is called "Von Neumann technology". In this case, those robots would search suitable materials from asteroids, what is orbiting the star by using laser-spectrometers. Then the materials would be transferred to the factory, and then those systems can create microchips and other stuff, what is needed for new spacecraft. This kind of systems can help us to colonize the entire galaxy in the distant future, but there are many technical problems to win before the trip to stars would be real.