Plasma propulsion engine

Such a thruster often generates the source plasma using radio frequency or microwave energy, using an external antenna.

This fact, combined with the absence of hollow cathodes (which are sensitive to all but noble gases), allows the possibility of using this thruster on a variety of propellants, from argon to carbon dioxide air mixtures to astronaut urine.

Canadian company Nautel is producing the 200 kW RF generators required to ionize the propellant.

Some component tests and "Plasma Shoot" experiments are performed in a Liberia, Costa Rica laboratory.

The Costa Rican Aerospace Alliance announced the development of exterior support for the VASIMR to be fitted outside the International Space Station.

Ex-astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz claims the VASIMR thruster could send a payload to Mars in as little as 39 days[11] while reaching a maximum velocity of 34 miles per second (55 km/s).

While in operation the plasma can thermally ablate the walls of the thruster cavity and support structure, which can eventually lead to system failure.

[10] Plasma thrusters are highly efficient in open space, but do nothing to offset the orbit expense of chemical rockets.

The plasma is expelled at high velocity to produce thrust via acceleration strategies that require various combinations of electric and magnetic fields of ideal topology.

Pulsed inductive thrusters (PIT) also use the Lorentz force to generate thrust, but they do not use electrodes, solving the erosion problem.

VASIMR, short for Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket, uses radio waves to ionize a propellant into a plasma.