The European GOCE spacecraft will use electric engines to provide critical thrust needed to keep it from toppling out of orbit and plunging to Earth. Those T5 ion thrusters are performing well after GOCE launched March 17, from Russia, according to QinetiQ, designer and builder of the craft. GOCE is a European Space Agency (ESA) asset that measures gravitational pull of the Earth in precise measurements, skimming just above the atmosphere. Because the atmosphere place a slight drag on GOCE,…
Under Way On Electrical Power: Ion Engines To Power Spacecraft
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