New Study Reveals Iodine Can Power Cheaper, Better Spaceships

A study published in the journal Nature has revealed the success of French aerospace firm ThrustMe in developing a new kind of ion thruster that uses cheaper iodine rather than the expensive xenon and can send spaceships soaring efficiently, Jon Kelvey reported for Inverse recently.

Photo Insert: Side view of a flight model of the iodine electric propulsion system firing in a vacuum chamber

It’s an engine type that could sustainably power a lot more spacecraft more efficiently, and spacecraft of all sizes to boot. “The system is significantly cheaper to produce compared to xenon-based,” ThrustMe Chief Technology Officer Dmytro Rafalskyi tells Inverse.

“It's also way cheaper to use — it doesn't require any filling procedure before the launch, and also doesn't need special certification because of the tank pressure.”

Iodine is a mineral found in some food and in nature, and is essential for the production of thyroid hormones. It’s found in trace amounts in water, soil, and the air. In this case, we’re dealing with iodine-based plasma.

It’s created “by electron impact ionization using a radio-frequency (RF) inductive antenna, and positive plasma ions are extracted and accelerated by the grids to high speeds to produce thrust,” the study team writes. Iodine thrusters could enable new constellations of efficiently maneuvered small satellites and put the rapidly growing space industry on more sustainable footing. Almost 1,300 satellites were launched in 2020 alone.

Iodine ion thrusters are not totally new. They date back almost 50 years — as an idea. But ThrustMe’s innovations make the engines a reality. Rafalskyi and colleagues not only describe the iodine thruster engine ThrustMe designed — they built it and flew it successfully in space in November 2020.

Launched atop a Long March 6 rocket in November 2020, the Beihangkongshi-1 satellite (operated by the small satellite company Spacety) was able to use ThrustMe’s iodine thruster to alter its attitude by 200 to 400 meters during each of 11 test firings.

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