Russia retains its leading potential in the creation of plasma (electric) engines for spacecraft of various purposes. This was announced by Evgeny Kuznetsov, General Director of the management company of the Digital Evolution Ventures venture fund (Rosatom Group).
Now, with the increasing demand for the transportation of heavy cargo and rapid expeditions, this is especially relevant. The Russian Federation is working on a megawatt-class nuclear space tug. Leadership is maintained in plasma (electric) engines - domestic SPTs (stationary plasma engines) have long been used on satellites. Now, analogues have appeared in the world (American Hall thrusters, ion engines), but Russian developments are still competing successfully.
He noted that the ideas used by the California startup Momentus, which used water as a propellant for a plasma engine, have their roots in domestic science.
In Russia, back in the 2010s, steam-plasma systems were studied that could heat water vapor using an electromagnetic field and create thrust. Now that Momentus has successfully tested such a "water tug" in orbit, Russian institutes have a chance to return to this idea and catch up with competitors, since fundamental skills in plasma physics and electrodynamics are high.
Russian space technology is known for its reliability. Kuznetsov emphasized that the Soyuz series rockets are the "workhorses" of space, with hundreds of successful launches and a minimum number of accidents. Despite the competition, Russian launch services remain in demand, especially in certain orbits and in the medium cargo segment.
The story with the RD-180 engines (Russia supplied them to the USA for Atlas V rockets for two decades) demonstrated that domestic technologies can be successfully integrated into the global market if there is political will. In the new environment, Russia could offer engines for lunar landers or heavy sealed modules for space stations - this is a strong point of domestic science and industry.
Earlier www1.ru reported that the RD-107/RD-108 engines for Soyuz rockets reached a reliability rate of 99.9%.
Read materials on the topic:
A satellite with artificial intelligence will begin to be developed at NSU
NSU has developed a device for transmitting short messages via the "Marafon IoT" satellites