RSC Energia specialists have patented a system for storing and supplying iodine for a promising electric rocket engine (ERE).
The idea of using "pure" reactive iodine as the so-called working fluid of the engine - a substance necessary to obtain a thrust impulse - was proposed back in the late 1990s by a senior researcher at the Corporation Valery Ostrovsky.
In 2006, he received his first patents. Research work in this direction began in 2012 at the initiative of Boris Sokolov, an outstanding domestic engine specialist, honored veteran of Energia.
The first tests on a standard plasma engine showed the fundamental possibility of using iodine: the engine, equipped with an additional gas distribution device, was started on xenon, and the iodine maintained the discharge.
Then the designers began to develop an iodine supply system, which was eventually patented.
The advantage of an iodine engine is primarily in its economy. Xenon, which is much more expensive than iodine, is traditionally used as a working fluid in existing EREs. In addition, the xenon supply and storage system is rather complex and cumbersome, which significantly increases the dimensions and weight of the propulsion system. Another important point is that the amount of xenon produced is not enough to solve promising tasks in astronautics, for example, flights to the moon.
Iodine, on the other hand, is well stored in a solid state and can be easily converted to gas without the use of a multi-stage pressure reduction system. Recirculation of iodine is also possible during life tests. As a result, the cost of ground-based development of such an EJE is ten times lower, while the parameters of iodine-fueled engines are at least not inferior to those of an EJE powered by xenon.
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The variant of the engine proposed by Energia's designers will be equipped with a wasteless cathode-neutralizer, which will make it possible to do without an additional gaseous working medium - xenon or argon. Such an engine can be used as a sustainer or for orbit correction, for example, on communication satellites, as well as in solving transport problems in deep space.
“The developers will conduct ground tests of the propulsion system at the end of June,” said one of the project managers, design engineer Pavel Shcherbina.
The Ostrovsky experiment, named after the author of the idea, is planned for 2022. The first part of the experiment is supposed to be carried out on board the ISS, and the second - using the Progress cargo vehicle. After undocking, the spacecraft will remain in orbit for another month to test new iodine-powered electric propulsion engines.