Talk:Spacecraft propulsion

Suggested illustration

I'd like to suggest that an SVG version of the NASA illustration here:

https://books.google.com/books?id=9XbhDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA7#v=onepage&q&f=false

could be beneficial for this and other rocket propulsion articles. Praemonitus (talk) 16:05, 20 June 2020 (UTC)

Radioactive isotopes as propulsion?

I heard that Voyager is using radioactive isotopes to power its battery. However, there is no mention of 'radioactivity' in the article. Sorry if this has been already mentioned somewhere. Ivanalison (talk) 16:18, 3 October 2020 (UTC)

Deep space probes like Voyager (which are too far from the Sun, and so cannot rely on solar power) are powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator; that just system power, it's not used for propulsion. The article talks about nuclear electric rockets and nuclear thermal rockets. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 17:27, 3 October 2020 (UTC)

Related entries on OSM

https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/search?q=spacecraft_propulsion#values  Dulliman (talk) 22:37, 25 January 2021 (UTC)

SCAT Thrusters

A question, should not the SCAT thrusters be in included in this article? Excerpt from; https://patents.google.com/patent/EP0919464A1/en

       A rocket propulsion system for spacecraft achieves greater economy, reliability and efficiency rocket by incorporating monopropellant RCS thrusters (1a-1f) for attitude control and bipropellant SCAT thrusters (5a-5c) for velocity control. Both sets of thrusters are designed to use the same liquid fuel, supplied by a pressurized non-pressure regulated tank, and operate in the blow down mode.
       A new propulsion system is proposed and a new bi-propellant thruster construction is described that has dual mode capability. That thruster construction is presently referred to as a Secondary Combustion Augmented Thrusters or, simply, as a "SCAT" thruster.

This is not the only site referencing this thruster. I have encountered indications this is a relatively recent application. Comments? ☉Qψîδịzഴ^ⓧ•—>Quisizyx _talk 22:13, 7 May 2021 (UTC)

Merge In-space propulsion technologies to this article

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.

Merge completed

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacecraft_propulsion — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.183.218.243 (talk) 22:28, 29 November 2014 (UTC)

• Support merging. The nominator gives no reason for merging but I support the merger since the scope of two articles are overlapped each other. --Soumya-8974 ^talk _contribs ^subpages 18:25, 5 August 2020 (UTC)
• Support: agree with Soumya-8974. Beginning preparation to merge the articles. JaredHWood💬 07:27, 26 January 2021 (UTC)

Merge Plan

Preparations to merge In-space propulsion technologies into Spacecraft propulsion. I will be creating a plan for the merge here in this section over the next few days. JaredHWood💬 07:03, 26 January 2021 (UTC)

Article structure

Current article sections	Incoming article sections	Merged article sections
Lead — def:method of acceleration, scope, pragmatic/hypothetical, common propulsion methods	Lead — future tech, purpose, intent, def, performing the functions of, main engines, maneuvering thrusters	Lead — definition, purpose, scope, functions, common methods, hypothetical methods
Requirements — Importance of orbital in-space propulsion, interplanetary travel, solar sail, no interstellar	Current technology — Chemical rockets, cryo fuel, electric propulsion	Purpose and function — combine existing sections: Effectiveness, Metrics.
Effectiveness — specific impulse/efficiency, launch vs orbital acceleration, acceleration/burn time, 1G ideal, reaction mass, specific impulse again, thrust/energy	Metrics — Purpose of in-space propulsion (getting there), need for improved tech, propulsion types, terminology.	Operating domains — current Requirements section. add Space rendezvous.
Methods — there are types of engines, reaction engines, delta-v, equations, ion-drive, rocket engine, electromag (more ion-drive), solar sail, gravitation slingshot	The challenge — Why better tech is needed	Propulsion methods — contains sub sections: Current technology and Future technology
Planetary and atmospheric propulsion — launch assist, air breathing engines, planetary arrival and landing	Primary propulsion technology — Advertisement for Glenn Research Center	Current technology — combine existing sections: Current technology, Methods, Testing
Table methods — a table of spacecraft propulsion technologies		Hypothetical technology — combine existing sections: The challenge, Speculation methods
Testing - engines and drives are tested (needs expansion)		Table of methods — no change
Speculation methods — another list of spacecraft propulsion technologies, but sci-fi this time
See also	See also	See also — combine and remove duplicates
Notes — a tidbit about the term 'stationary'
References	References	References — auto generated
External links	Further reading — External links	External links — combine and remove duplicates

Article guideline proposal: This article should focus exclusively on in-space propulsion. Any information on other propulsion methods or spacecraft details should be moved to another article. For example: the Spaceflight article is about launch, in-space, and reentry and should link to this article as the main article about in-space spacecraft propulsion. Content about non-in-space propulsion should be preserved by moving it to one of the following articles:

• Spaceflight – Flight into or through outer space
• Spacecraft – Vehicle or machine designed to fly in space
• Space launch – Earliest phase of a flight that reaches space
• Launch vehicle – Rocket used to carry a spacecraft into space
• Docking and berthing of spacecraft – Joining of two or more space vehicles
• Atmospheric entry – Passage of an object through the gases of an atmosphere from outer space

In line with this proposed guideline I would like to make the following specific changes:

• Move the bulk of the Reaction engines section to the Reaction engine article leaving only a brief summary here in this article. Any comparisons to other propulsion types for in-space acceleration should remain in this article.

Merge plan discussion

—Please share ideas, suggestions, comments here—

I am currently filling in the merge plan table with brief descriptions of the main sections in both articles. This will likely take several days. Any help is welcome. Just continue the pattern. JaredHWood💬 07:53, 26 January 2021 (UTC)

I have finished the merge plan and will let it rest for a bit. I will be back in a few days to check for feedback and execute the merge. JaredHWood💬 07:25, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

The major part of the merge is complete. There is a lot of refinement needed in this article. Each section needs to have the writing style integrated. I still want to move most of the Reaction engines section to the Reaction engine article, leaving behind only a single paragraph summary. I also think that Planetary and atmospheric propulsion section does not belong in this article, but I will have to study up on where it should go before doing anything with it. Need a break, will be back. JaredHWood💬 04:36, 1 February 2021 (UTC)

I finished moving the detailed content from the Reaction engines section to the Reaction engine article and added some new main articles at the beginning of several other sections. I am particularly happy with the new Operating domains section and subsections. I hope it will help future editors of this page. Jared.h.wood _{is now} JHelzer💬 04:19, 6 February 2021 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

What happened to the table of methods?

It’s gone Pogeons (talk) 16:07, 12 February 2021 (UTC)

@Pogeons: I just looked and I see it right here Spacecraft_propulsion#Table_of_methods. Jared.h.wood → JHelzer💬 20:40, 12 February 2021 (UTC)

A useful table. The electric sail and magnetic sail entries have several issues:

• A magsail is a superconducting coil with no exhausted propellant and hence this column should be n/a.
• The delta-V column is the (range) of velocity for the solar wind of the spacecraft starting and ending velocity for ISM.

I added an explanatory note to a magsail solar wind thrust. This appeared to be a currently supported template, but editing needs to be done in Source mode.

I modified the text in "Without Internal Reaction Mass" and the magnetic sail table entries.

Electric sail thrust with citations is still TBD. Dmcdysan (talk) 20:22, 13 September 2022 (UTC)