NASA Electric Power Plane Launches Into Space August 2022

Psyche's aircraft were capable of over 200,000 miles per hour, carrying more than 2,000 pounds of xenon. (photo: doc. Nasa)

JAKARTA - There is something interesting about the plane that will launch in August 2022, Psyche. This aircraft is quite different from the others because it uses electric propulsion as propulsion.

NASA calls it an electric vehicle or EV. The space agency plans to send the electric craft into the Psyche asteroid belt (similar to the craft's name) located between Mars and Jupiter.

Citing the official NASA website, Tuesday, September 21, the Psyche asteroid belt was first discovered in 1852 by Annibale de Gasparis, an Italian astronomer who named the celestial body as The Greek goddess of the soul, Psyche.

The asteroid is quite interesting because it contains a lot of metal, unlike other asteroids that only have an icy or rocky outer layer. The metal's relatively unique properties have led experts to speculate that Psyche may be the open core of an ancient planet that was stripped of its exterior in the distant past.

The Psyche spacecraft, named after the asteroid, will spend more than three years traveling deeper into the space rock, traveling about 1.5 billion miles (2.4 billion kilometers). Psyche's aircraft were capable of over 200,000 miles per hour, carrying more than 2,000 pounds of xenon.

The spacecraft will rely on the massive chemical rocket engine of the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle from the launch pad and to evade Earth's gravity. Once the spacecraft arrives at the asteroid, it will enter orbit around the asteroid and deploy various instruments designed to investigate the asteroid.

NASA explained, after the plane escapes Earth's gravity, it will rely on solar-powered electricity (Hall) to make long trips in space. Psyche will be the first spacecraft to use this 'Hall' thruster beyond lunar orbit, establishing a new milestone for the space agency.

With the predicted zero atmospheric drag that the Psyche plane doesn't have to face, the use of a thruster that relies on an electromagnetic field and produces ionized xenon rays, will result in very gentle propulsion. Because they are so efficient, the Psyche Hall thrusters can operate almost non-stop for years without running out of fuel.