Comparisons
The following table compares actual test data of some ion thrusters:
| Engine | Propellant | Required Power (kW) |
Specific Impulse (s) |
Thrust (mN) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSTAR | Xenon | 2.3 | 3,300 | 92 max. |
| NEXT | Xenon | 7.7 | 4,300 | 236 max. |
| NEXIS | Xenon | 20.5 | ||
| HiPEP | Xenon | 25-50 | 6,000-9,000 | 460-670 |
| RIT 22 | Xenon | 5 | ||
| Hall effect | Bismuth | 25 | ||
| Hall effect | Bismuth | 140 | ||
| Hall effect | Xenon | 25 | 3,250 | 950 |
| Hall effect | Xenon | 75 | ||
| FEEP | Liquid Caesium | 6x10−5-0.06 | 6,000-10,000 | 0.001-1 |
| VASIMR | Argon | 200 | ~5000 |
The following thrusters are highly experimental and have been tested only in pulse mode.
| Engine | Propellant | Required Power (kW) |
Specific Impulse (s) |
Thrust (mN) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MPDT | Hydrogen | 1,500 | 4,900 | 26,300 |
| MPDT | Hydrogen | 3,750 | 3,500 | 88,500 |
| MPDT | Hydrogen | 7,500 | 6,000 | 60,000 |
| LiLFA | Lithium Vapor | 500 | 4,077 | 12,000 |
Read more about this topic: Ion Thruster
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—Dorothy Corkville Briggs (20th century)
“Decade after decade, artists came to paint the light of Provincetown, and comparisons were made to the lagoons of Venice and the marshes of Holland, but then the summer ended and most of the painters left, and the long dingy undergarment of the gray New England winter, gray as the spirit of my mood, came down to visit.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“I don’t like comparisons with football. Baseball is an entirely different game. You can watch a tight, well-played football game, but it isn’t exciting if half the stadium is empty. The violence on the field must bounce off a lot of people. But you can go to a ball park on a quiet Tuesday afternoon with only a few thousand people in the place and thoroughly enjoy a one-sided game. Baseball has an aesthetic, intellectual appeal found in no other team sport.”
—Bowie Kuhn (b. 1926)