VASIMR: The

Future of Space
Travel (?)
Kevin Blondino
8 October 2012

What is VASIMR?

VAriable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma

Rocket electric propulsion system using
accelerated plasma with a magnetic field.
Uses radio waves to ionize and further heat
Argon (or Xenon, or Hydrogen)
Low thrust-to-weight ratio
Developed by Ad Astra Rocket Company

Possible Uses

Deep space travel/robotic missions (not for

leaving Earths orbit)
Lunar cargo transport from low-Earth orbit
Drag compensation for space stations
In-space refueling
Satellite maintenance, refueling, and
repositioning

Who is this?

History

Development started 1977 in his Ph.D. with

magnetic mirrors
First experiment in 1983 at MIT
Moved to Houston in 1995
Ad Astra Rocket Company incorporated and
partnership with NASA in 2005
Subsidiary in Liberia, Guanacaste, Costa Rica in
2006
Testing of VF-200 will occur on the ISS in 2015

Design

to ~6000 K

Current and Past Models

VX-10: 10 kW thruster tested in 1998

VX-25: 25 kW in 2002
VX-50: 50 kW also in 2002
VX-100: 100 kW in 2007
VX-200: 200 kW single-thruster
VF-200: 2 100 kW thrusters with opposing
magnetic field.

VX-200

Operating at full power with argon propellant at about 50 km/s exhaust velocity.

Sense of
Scale

VF-200
Conceptual
mock-up

Two 100 kW thrusters with opposing magnetic fields. This makes a zero-torque
magnetic quadrapole in order to not interact with the Earths magnetic field.

A 2MW solar powered lunar tug concept using 4 VASIMR engines.

Pros

Much lower fuel consumption and cost

Higher efficiency than chemical propulsion
No use of electrodes
Almost no moving parts
Very durable, and thus reusable
Highly scalable

Cons

Requires superconducting magnets (low

temperature)

This requires low temperature cooling

Such a strong magnetic field could interfere with other
equipment, and could cause torque (single thruster design).

Large power requirement

i.e. lots of waste heat that must be directed away

External source may be needed

Solar for near-Earth missions

Nuclear

References
[1] http://www.adastrarocket.com/aarc/VASIMR
[2] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/plasma-rockets.html
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Chang_Daz
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VASIMR
[5] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4jf2F3YEAI