Nov 20 2003
From The Space Library
NASA announced the successful test of a High Power Electric Propulsion (HiPEP) ion engine using commercial-utility electrical power, marking the first successful test of an engine that could “lead to revolutionary propulsion capabilities for space exploration missions throughout the solar system and beyond.” The test used the largest microwave ion thruster ever built. The test was also the first in a series, demonstrating the high-velocity and high-power thrust necessary for the new nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) applications. NASA's Project Prometheus had been studying the HiPEP~one of several candidate propulsion technologies~for possible use on the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO). The JIMO Mission's design included a small nuclear reactor as its power source and electric thrusters to provide propulsion. NASA planned for JIMO to study Jupiter's three icy moons~Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. Director of Project Prometheus Alan R. Newhouse remarked that the test represented a “huge leap in demonstrating the potential for advanced ion technologies.(NASA, “NASA Successfully Tests Ion Engine,” news release 03-377, 20 November 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/nov/HQ_033 77_ion_engine.html (accessed 5 February 2009).
The ISS marked its five-year anniversary in space. Since the Russian Zarya control module had launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 20 November 1998, the ISS had grown from an uninhabited module to a permanently staffed research facility the size of a three-bedroom house. After five years, the ISS was not completely constructed~NASA was preparing more than 80 tons (72,575 kilograms or 72.58 tonnes) of equipment and hardware, including solar arrays and support structures, for launch at the Space Station Processing Facility at its KSC. Also in launch preparation at KSC was the Node 2 module, which would connect the U.S., European, and Japanese research laboratories; and the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module. The eventual launch of the European Columbus laboratory under construction in Bremen, Germany, would expand the station's volume to that of a five-bedroom house. The first crew to live aboard the orbiting facility had arrived on 2 November 2000, and since that date, eight successive crews~22 people~had staffed the ISS, conducting research in bioastronautics, physical sciences, fundamental space biology, space product development, and spaceflight disciplines. (NASA, “International Space Station Marks Five Years in Orbit,” news release 03-374, 19 November 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/nov/HQ_033 74_iss_five_yrs.html (accessed 5 February 2009).
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