Hi.

Nice thought.

As far as I am aware, Ion thrusters need a lot of DC power, although low power (80W or so) have been developed. But there are still two problems. One is the restrictions on propellent on the ISS / shuttle. Even though Xenon gas is 'harmless' it still posses a hazard due to fuel tank pressure and a contamination risk if it leaks into the habitable areas. The other problem is the thrust developed by a small Ion drive is really very small. Probably less than 10 milli Newtons. Given the drag on the solar panels at 350km, it may be that the thrust is too little to overcome the drag.

Pulsed plasma technology may be better as it only needs Teflon and DC power, so no risk to crew.

But propulsion on a LEO as a concept has to be a winner.

Thanks

David G0MRF

In a message dated 01/11/2008 03:12:10 GMT Standard Time, sparkycivic@shaw.ca writes:

I was wondering... An question just occured to me that I couldn't answer: If a small satellite were hand-launched from the space station, and it contained an ion-drive motor powered by electricity, would it ever be able to accelerate in order to gain a higher orbit, or would that require an impracically large power supply/engine? In other words, could that method be used to achieve higher orbits with communication/ham class satellites without having to use the typical large rocket we've been using all this time? Also, would there be a cost-advantage to this method?