Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello,

I was wondering about the “ What is the Cheapest Way to Launch Payloads into Space?” I need to make it into a science experiment and was thinking of using a mass driver and a model rocket to launch payloads. Is there a way to incorporate an ionic thruster as well? I know that ionic thrusters are used in orbit and not for an initial launch, but is there something that I can use to connect it to my experiment?

Trenton

Hi - we do have a project about building a model ionic thruster to spin a small, very lightweight rotor: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... wind-rotor

However as you noted, the forces from these thrusters are VERY small - they are used for long-term propulsion in space, but not for initial launch. I'm not sure if you could do a comparison about launching payloads, but perhaps you could do some other sort of comparison like looking at cost, efficiency, thrust/mass ratio, etc.

Thank you so much