May 2012
20 posts
Is it possible to use the ionosphere like power source and if so how?
I’m not familiar with any concepts using the charged particles of the ionosphere itself, but there are approaches to use the Earth’s magnetic field while in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) traveling through the ionosphere. These are based on Faraday’s Law, where a conductor (wire, or tether) moving through a magnetic field results in a current.
The Space Shuttle mission STS-75 conducted an on-orbit experiment deploying a 12.5 mile long tether which produced so much power it melted the tether material until it eventually snapped!
There is a small company (founded by aerospace legend Robert Forward) in Redmond Washington called Tether’s Unlimited, which specializes in using tethers in space for many purposes, including power generation.
Is there any update as to when SpaceX's actual launch to the ISS will be? And I just wanted to be clear, Dragon will be automated / remote control for this launch and mating to the ISS correct (similar to the ESA ATV) ?
The latest date we were targeting was May 7th, but it’s now not looking like everything will be ready in time to make that date. There’s no official word yet on what the new date will be.
Regarding Dragon you are correct, it is a highly automated spacecraft, similar to the European ATV, Japanese HTV, and Russian Soyuz. Lots of good info here!
