A trip to Mars may be in the books for future astronauts, but current propulsion technology would have them flying in a spacecraft bound for the Red Planet for about six to nine months. Given how spaceflight affects the human body, this is not ideal. A rocket company in Russia may have developed a solution for traveling through space at much higher speeds with a new type of rocket engine.
Scientists at Russia’s state-owned Rosatom Corporation have developed a prototype plasma electric rocket engine that could reach Mars in just 30-60 days, Russian media report. The rocket, which uses hydrogen as fuel, has the potential to revolutionize spaceflight, but it is at a very early stage of development and will likely take several years before it can be used for a human mission to Mars. Nevertheless, this new technology may be what is needed to leave dust trails on the Martian surface.
In most rocket engines, liquid hydrogen fuel and a liquid oxygen oxidizer are pumped into a combustion chamber where they ignite and form hot exhaust that propels the rocket. A plasma rocket, on the other hand, is a type of electric propulsion system that uses two electrodes. When charged particles move between the electrodes and a high voltage is applied, the current creates a magnetic field that pushes the particles out of the engine. The plasma gets a directional motion and as a result creates thrust, Yegor Biryulin, a junior researcher at Rosatom’s scientific institute in Troitsk, told the Russian newspaper Izvestia.
According to the researchers, with conventional fuel combustion, rockets have a maximum flow rate of about 2.7 miles per second (4.5 kilometers per second), but the plasma engine is capable of accelerating charged particles to 62 miles per second (100 kilometers per second). At these speeds, a rocket trip to Mars could take a month or two.
The prototype rocket engine is currently being tested in a chamber that simulates space conditions. Although the rocket will use traditional chemical fuel for launch, it will switch to electric propulsion once it reaches orbit.
Russia is not the only space power hoping to reach Mars with faster rockets. NASA recently announced a collaboration with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to demonstrate a nuclear thermonuclear rocket engine in space to reduce the time it takes for humans to fly to the Red Planet. Meanwhile, SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk has proposed using the company’s Starship rocket to launch unmanned missions to Mars in 2026, followed by the first human mission about four years later.
The new space era will witness a fierce race to reach the dusty Martian surface.
