Ion Drives (was Re: Relations, Esa Public Information Note Nr. 20-97)

Mark Grant (mark@unicorn.com)
Sat, 21 Jun 1997 12:28:47 +0000

I seem to recall someone asking about ion drives a few weeks ago, but
can't find the post in my archives. Looks like ESA are considering
building one for an asteroid mission (unless I'm mistaken as to what they
mean by 'solar-electric').

Mark

On Wed, 18 Jun 1997 MAILRP@ESA.HQ.ESA.FR wrote:

> ESA is also considering SMART missions, using small
> satellites to test key technologies. Solar-electric propulsion,
> long seen as a much-needed advance in spacecraft engines,
> could take a small spacecraft to the Moon and then onwards to
> an asteroid. A second candidate for a SMART mission would
> develop "drag free" technologies for testing Einstein's theory
> of gravity.

|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Mark Grant M.A., U.L.C. EMAIL: mark@unicorn.com |
|WWW: http://www.unicorn.com/ MAILBOT: bot@unicorn.com |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|