Neumann Drive

[Carl White]

Anyone heard of these people?

http://neumannspace.com/science/

They claim to have made an ion drive that has broken the record for ISP using solid fuel and a process similar to arc welding.

Exhaust velocity of up to 140 km/s. Exhaust is quasi-neutral.

Video on how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TVipU98g9s

[krenshala]

Checking the website, they list a number of different fuel types they have tried. I think I most enjoy the ones that didn't work. e.g., Bismuth.

Bismuth was a material we had high hopes for. It has been used as propellant in other electric spacedrives, notably in the work done by Massey on Bismuth-fuelled Hall Effect Thrusters at Michigan Technological University.

There are reasons to think Bismuth would have been a good fuel for the Neumann Drive – it’s a heavy element, non-radioactive and with a low ionisation energy and a potentially useful electron cross-section.

We were hoping for decent results.

We were horribly, awfully, wrong.

If nothing else, they have good writing skills.

[ladajo]

A little thin on details, however intriguing. Has this not been tried before, maybe 70s or 80s?
What are the actual power requirements per unit thrust is my biggest question.

[Carl White]

There's some discussion on:

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index ... ic=42920.0

Bunch of numbers here:

http://neumannspace.com/blog/fuel-of-th ... olybdenum/

They say they should be able to maintain a power efficiency of 20 micronewtons per watt.

[Diogenes]

Anyone heard of these people?

http://neumannspace.com/science/

They claim to have made an ion drive that has broken the record for ISP using solid fuel and a process similar to arc welding.

Exhaust velocity of up to 140 km/s. Exhaust is quasi-neutral.

Video on how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TVipU98g9s

Yes. Heard of them a long time ago. For some reason, metallic fuel didn't grab me very much, but it's hard to argue with efficiency even if you don't care for the method used to obtain it.

[Carl White]

They might be putting a first instance of their thruster into orbit this year:

https://neumannspace.com/the-spirit-mission-is-a-go/

[Carl White]

https://neumannspace.com/two-more-in-or ... -missions/

Neumann Space secures two new in-orbit demonstration missions with Skykraft including one with CisLunar Industries in-vacuum recycled Aluminium propellant

In a world first, Neumann Space intends to on-board an Al 6061 fuel rod melted and cast in vacuum by our U.S. partner CisLunar Industries. After successful tests conducted in October 2021, this will be the next step to proving in-space recycled metal can be used as fuel