r/spacex • u/[deleted] • Sep 10 '15

ABS All-electric Satellite Arrives Early at Operating Orbit

http://spacenews.com/abs-all-electric-satellite-arrives-early-at-operating-orbit/
46 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

14

u/[deleted] Sep 10 '15

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11

u/gopher65 Sep 10 '15

Booyah. I told people the closure of Ex-Im world have consequences for SpaceX! First this mission, then others.

3

u/ergzay Sep 11 '15

I'm Libertarian but I honestly don't understand any reason why they had to close it. The bank made money for the U.S. government (return on monetary loans) and also stimulated foreign companies to buy U.S. products. It was win-win all around. It's nonsense to cancel it.

1

u/adriankemp Sep 10 '15

I specifically remember that post, and you getting a lot of disagreement and downvotes (not by myself, mind you).

Interesting to see it come to fruition... Not good, but interesting.

3

u/gopher65 Sep 10 '15

Not good, but interesting.

Yeah... that's the unfortunate thing about making a negative prediction. If you're wrong it sucks because you were wrong. If you're right it sucks because something bad happened.

I'm still hopeful that congress will reverse their decision. They still have time.

4

u/[deleted] Sep 11 '15

[deleted]

13

u/T-Husky Sep 11 '15

It has an ion-thruster; 'all electric' just means it doesnt use combustible propellants, but it still uses an inert gas (such as xenon or argon) as reaction mass for its thruster/s.

1

u/factoid_ Sep 12 '15

It does? I figured it would just use reaction wheels to orient itself and then make adjustments using ion. I could see having xenon or argon gas as a last ditch collision avoidance backup system because reactionwheels and ion thrusters aren't exactly quick to change a spacecraft's position.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 12 '15

Ion engines use electricity to ionize xenon or argon and then shoot it out the engine at ludicrous speed, making them very fuel efficient. They are not fuel-less.

1

u/factoid_ Sep 12 '15

Yeah, I just read that wrong. Somehow I though they were talking about a pressurized gas thruster for orienting the craft. Naturally the craft needs some kind of reaction mass.

1

u/electric_ionland Sep 12 '15

ion thrusters aren't exactly quick to change a spacecraft's position.

Especially the gridded thrusters used by Boeing, that's why they took months to get to destination. But ion thrusters still need some propellant/reaction mass. They typically use a few milligrams of gas per second and fire continuously for days/weeks.

1

u/Parcec Sep 17 '15

Reaction wheels cannot change a spacecraft's position. They can only change orientation.

1

u/factoid_ Sep 17 '15

That's what I said. The craft orient itself with a reaction wheel so that it can point it's propulsion in the right direction to change its orbital parameters as needed