MAI has come up with a way to extend the active life of low-orbit satellites in the range from 250 to 300 kilometers.
Currently, such satellites with useful equipment last from a few days to several months. With liquid-propellant rocket engines, which reduce the amount of useful equipment on the satellite, the service life increases to a year. But the technology of specialists from the Research Institute of Applied Mechanics and Electrodynamics of MAI will help extend it to three years.
The longevity of low-orbit satellites will be achieved through a new high-frequency ion engine with electrodes made of carbon-carbon composite material. It is resistant to erosion and is expected to run on xenon or krypton.
The estimated operating time of the engine is 28 thousand hours, that is, more than three years. According to the developers, it has sufficient thrust to parry the resistance of the incoming flow of atmospheric gases and keep the spacecraft at the desired altitude.
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