Existing plasma thruster technology could more than double the Soyuz 2-1b's payload capacity to geostationary orbit (GEO), say Russian researchers.
Currently, the Samara Space Center Soyuz 2 rocket can place up to 1,000kg (2,200lb) to GEO using its Fregat upper stage. But researchers at the Research Institute of Applied Mechanics and Electrodynamics (RIAME) have concluded that a 2,280kg spacecraft could be delivered to GEO after 180 days by using a modified upper stage with xenon-fuelled Experimental Design Bureau (EDB) Fakel Hall-effect thrusters, from a Baikonur launch.
The upper stage's chemical engines would move the spacecraft from its initial orbit to an intermediate one. From there, the electric thrusters could use up to 393kg of xenon to move the spacecraft over a few months.
A launch from the European Space Agency's French Guiana spaceport could lift almost 3,000kg into GEO over 180 days. Soyuz rockets with chemical engines only are expected to launch from French Guiana in 2009.
These capabilities are close to the GEO capacity of the Krunichev Space Center Proton rocket with its Briz-M upper stage, when launched from Baikonur.
On board Soyuz, the EDB Fakel Stationary Plasma Thruster (SPT)-140 would draw power from solar panels providing 10kW. Two would propel the electric propulsion system and spacecraft after separation from the Fregat-like chemical engine module, with two thrusters as backup.
"We now have a programme and it's feasible to achieve qualification [of the SPT-140] in two years," says RIAME vice-director Vladimir Obukhov.
Source: Flight International
