Re:Oumuamua may be a hydrogen iceberg
by walrus01 on Wednesday June 03, 2020 @05:17PM
(#23408885)
One of the purposes of a proposed 'space tug' is to use slow low thrust but high delta-v, high efficiency engines to do things such as:
Raise the orbit of satellites in LEO which are affected by atmospheric drag. Or re-boost things like the international space station, proposed future Chinese space station, etc.
Extend the lifetime of geostationary satellites which are still electrically functional, but out of station keeping propellant. One such thing docked for the very first time with a satellite earlier this year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Extension_Vehicle
On unmanned missions, slowly move cargo from low earth orbit to destinations at the Moon or Mars. If you can use ion and hall effect type thrusters for your missions to move cargo around, you can establish a logistics supply chain for essential supplies consisting of unmanned craft.
Raise the orbit of satellites in LEO which are affected by atmospheric drag. Or re-boost things like the international space station, proposed future Chinese space station, etc.
Extend the lifetime of geostationary satellites which are still electrically functional, but out of station keeping propellant. One such thing docked for the very first time with a satellite earlier this year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Extension_Vehicle
On unmanned missions, slowly move cargo from low earth orbit to destinations at the Moon or Mars. If you can use ion and hall effect type thrusters for your missions to move cargo around, you can establish a logistics supply chain for essential supplies consisting of unmanned craft.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta-v_budget
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_impulse
An interesting example of using ion engines to maintain low earth orbit, through long continual thrust was this mission:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Field_and_Steady-State...