The Troitsk Institute for Innovative and Thermonuclear Research Institute (JSC "GNTs RF TRINITI", part of the Rosatom State Corporation) has assembled a prototype plasma accelerator for a new type of rocket engine, which is actively being developed by Russia. According to scientists' calculations, this engine will ensure the exploration of deep space.
Little is known about the characteristics of this device yet.
A plasma accelerator with an external magnetic field has been manufactured for a prototype plasma rocket engine with increased thrust parameters (at least 6 N) and specific impulse (at least 100 km/s). The average power of such an engine operating in a pulsed-periodic mode can reach 300 kW.
The approximate timing of the appearance of a prototype of the new rocket engine has not yet been announced.
Earlier in 2023, the State Scientific Center of the Russian Federation "Keldysh Research Center" (part of the Roscosmos State Corporation) noted that they are already working on a new spacecraft for deep space flights. It is assumed that it will make transport operations in space more economical, and also provide "a significant increase in electrical power in space and the creation of spacecraft with variable orbital parameters".
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