Engineers at the University of Michigan are looking to use spacecrafts the size of a loaf of bread to study interplanetary space faster and cheaper.
Scientists at the school are building a plasma thruster that could push a small satellite-bearing spacecraft into deep space. To meet the goal, the thruster needs to be small enough to fit in a 10-centimeter (or just about a 4-inch) space.
While such small thrusters do exist today, they lack enough sustained power to power a spacecraft through very long distances.
"If we wanted to try a mission like the one we're proposing with current technology, we wouldn't even make it out of Earth's orbit," said Benjamin Longmier, a University of Michigan assistant professor in the Aerospace Engineering Department. "We have some little thrusters called gas jets that will push us a little bit, but we want to be able to push a spacecraft millions of miles from Earth and go truly interplanetary." The university has started a Kickstarter campaign to fund the project.
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