Rosatom says its plasma rocket engine has no analogues abroad

Brief retelling from RIA II

The plasma rocket engine being developed at Rosatom has no analogues abroad, says Konstantin Gutorov, deputy director of the science department of the Rosatom Scientific Institute in Troitsk.

The prototype engine from Rosatom is superior to competitors in a number of characteristics, such as thrust, specific impulse and traction power.

The key competitive advantage of the development is its high energy efficiency, over 80%, which will reduce the flight time to Mars to 30–60 days.

MOSCOW, September 13 – RIA Novosti. The plasma rocket engine being developed at Rosatom has no analogues abroad, says Konstantin Gutorov, deputy director of the science department of the Rosatom Scientific Institute in Troitsk.

According to him, powerful plasma engines are now being developed by all space powers.

“If we talk specifically about our plasma rocket engine, then there are no analogues abroad. But there are competing developments of plasma engines based on other principles,” Gutorov told the Izvestia newspaper.

He noted that the Rosatom prototype, having a thrust of six newtons, a specific impulse of 100 kilometers per second and a traction power of over 300 kilowatts, surpasses its competitors in a number of characteristics. For example, the closest competitive solution - a prototype from the Ad Astra Rocket company - produces a thrust of up to 5.4 Newtons, it is designed for a power of 200 kilowatts with a specific impulse from 20 to 50 kilometers per second.

“The key competitive advantage of our development is its high energy efficiency, over 80%,” notes Gutorov.

It is noted that such an engine can operate without stopping for at least 100 days, and the speed of the plasma flow is tens of times higher than the speed of the jet during the combustion of chemical fuel in rockets. It is expected that this will, for example, reduce the flight time to Mars to 30-60 days.

In April, Rosatom General Director Alexei Likhachev spoke about unique results when testing a plasma rocket engine for space - with a separate impulse of up to 100 kilometers per second.