Japan and U.S. ride the future with ion propulsion

William Atkins
Monday, 03 August 2009 18:41

Science - Space

For instance, the Microwave Ion Engine is onboard the JAXA Hayabusa spacecraft, whose long-duration mission is to explore and rendezvous with an asteroid.

In fact, four such engines are onboard the spacecraft, powered by xenon ions generated by a microwave ECR (electron cyclotron resonance) chamber. They are expected to run for over 18,000 hours, or 750 days.

The spacecraft was launched in 2003. Then, in September 2005, the spacecraft rendezvoused with the near-Earth asteroid (NEA) called 25143 Itokawa. It maintained a stationkeeping attitude with the asteroid for many months while it analyzed the physical composition of the asteroid.

It supposedly landed on the asteroid, too. During this period, it collected dust samples that were situated around the asteroid.

The Hayabusa spacecraft is now on its way back to Earth. It is scheduled to arrive at Earth around June 2010, in order to deliver its scientifically valuable cargo of asteroid dust to Japanese scientists.

For additional information on the Microwave Ion Engine onboard Hayabusa, please check out the January 29, 2003 SpaceRef.com article “Microwave ion engine prototype model achieved 18000 hrs of autonomous endurance.”

Kunio Kondo, the senior general manager for the Aerospace and Defense Operations Unit of NEC, commented on the joint venture between the U.S. and Japan companies concerning the Microwave Ion Engine.

Kondo states, "Aerojet is a leading supplier of satellite propulsion systems in the United States and has broad experience and technical capabilities with satellite propulsion systems." [Fox Business: "Aerojet and NEC Collaborate to Explore Low Power Ion Propulsion Systems for Satellites."]

Aerojet electric propulsion products are currently onboard over 150 operational satellites now in space.

Dr. Roger Myers, general manager of Redmond operations for Aerojet, adds, “… the low power Microwave Ion Engine from NEC provides an excellent complement to Aerojet's broad electric propulsion product offerings." [Fox Business]