New Satellite Engine Could Use Earth's Atmosphere to Stay in Orbit Indefinitely(scitechdaily.com)
58 pointsby GordonS7 hours ago7 comments
  • chris_va6 hours ago
    Very much not a new idea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_low_Earth_orbit

    Though fun to see. More interesting than the station keeping (indefinite part) is that it enables ~100km orbits, which are ~5x closer than what remote sensing satellites use today and thus could get 5x the resolution for the same instrument.

    • t2r31216 hours ago
      Yes, the article also points out that the idea is not new, but rather that this research was focused on addressing practical problems, such as corrosion of the engine's parts.
    • Someone4 hours ago
      > ~5x closer than what remote sensing satellites use today and thus could get 5x the resolution for the same instrument.

      I would think a bit less. You won’t get a factor of 5 decrease in atmosphere to watch through and I would guess you’d get more vibration.

    • bottlepalm5 hours ago
      Ideas require a ton of research to transform into reality.
    • MeteorMarc3 hours ago
      100km is the height where meteoroids ablate. You must mean 100k miles and even there the largest meteors start to become visible.

      Indeed at the bottom tfb quotes heights of 190-250km for model calculations.

    • idiotsecant3 hours ago
      An Alcubierre drive is not a new idea either, but if someone demonstrated one I would be mightily impressed.

      That is an extreme example for multiple reasons, of course, but the point is that the gulf between idea and working thing is often monstrous. Ideas are cheap, implementation is hard.

  • rf15an hour ago
    Basically the attempt to make a Bussard Ramjet work? I just wonder if the drag isn't just too much to overcome, can't wait for their prototype results.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bussard_ramjet

  • PowerElectronix3 hours ago
    The thing is is this kind of engine does better than a regular one +big tank of propeller in the lifetime of a VLEO satellite, which due to newer regulation by the US is 5 years, so you don't really need eve a big tank
  • NetMageSCW3 hours ago
    Feels like someone SpaceX would be very interested in hiring.

    Too bad this wasn’t available for SWIFT.

  • fouc3 hours ago
    if only it could be used to remove carbon from the atmosphere..
  • metalman4 hours ago
    'contactless, neutralizer-less radio-frequency (RF) helicon plasma thruster'

    fairly sure that wins just on the absolute impossibility of creating an acronym , just all business

    works in wind tunnel testing.

    • tocs34 hours ago
      It may never work then:)
  • while_true_3 hours ago
    The Earth's upper atmosphere is delicate. It's already being disturbed with rocket fuel residue and particulate space junk. Vacuuming up air and ionizing it risks putting the upper atmosphere even more out of balance.
    • rkagerer2 hours ago
      Could you elaborate on that?

      The article mentions "both positive and negative ions are pushed out of the thruster".

      Won't the ions eventually recombine?