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1993-05-03
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PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
Contact: Jim Doyle, JPL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 4, 1991
A soccerball-shaped carbon molecule may be the perfect
propellant for a type of spacecraft engine that produces thrust
by expelling charged atoms or molecules.
Stephanie D. Leifer, an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, and Winston A. Saunders of the California Institute
of Technology, propose to use the molecule Carbon 60 as a fuel in
ion engines. These engines, which generate thrust by ionizing and
accelerating propellants, use less fuel than conventional
chemical thrusters.
Leifer believes Carbon 60 has properties that will reduce
the energy required to ionize the propellant. "For applications
where it is desirable to operate at relatively low to moderate
exhaust velocity, ion engines using low ion mass propellants
become less efficient," Leifer said.
"A large molecule such as Carbon 60 would allow for more
efficient operation at low exhaust velocities," she said.
Because the structure of Carbon 60 resembles a geodesic
dome, it also is called "buckminsterfullerene" in honor of the
dome's inventor, R. Buckminster Fuller. Scientists informally
refer to the molecules as buckyballs.
JPL and Caltech have started a joint effort to examine theuse of Carbon 60 in ion thrusters. The program will study basic
properties of the molecule important to ion propulsion, and will
evaluate it as a fuel in a small ion engine testbed.
The first practical application of ion engines most likely
will be in orbital transfer missions and station-keeping for
satellites in geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above Earth.
Later, Carbon 60 could give advanced ion engines much higher
thrust and power levels than are possible today.
"This project is an excellent example of looking beyond
one's sub-specialty to find new and potentially useful
technologies," said Saunders. "Stephanie and I got together over
lunch one day to talk about using clusters in ion thrusters. I
knew something about Carbon 60, but nothing at all about ion
engines. She knew about the current limitations and requirements
of ion engines. On the spot we cooked up this idea to use C60 and
within 2 weeks we had filed a patent disclosure.
"It's the kind of synergistics Buckminster Fuller
advocated," he added.
_____
#1405
12/3/91jjd