China launches first satellite with high-power electric drive
- The Apstar 6-E is equipped with a propulsion system designed to keep it in orbit for at least the next 15 years
- Electric engines are expected to play a key role in the next space race
China launched a communication satellite on Friday with an unusually powerful electric engine, according to state media.
The Apstar-6E satellite, launched from the Xichang satellite launch centre shortly after 2am, will offer high-speed communication services for users in Southeast Asia with a total bandwidth over 30 Gbps.
“The satellite will conduct the first in-orbit verification of high-power ion and Hall electric propulsion technology,” Science and Technology Daily, an official newspaper run by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, reported.
The article did not say how much power the system could generate, but electric propulsion systems that fall into the “high-power” category can generate between 10 and 100 kilowatts in space by using an electromagnetic phenomenon known as the Hall effect, according to China’s space authorities.
The most powerful electric propulsion systems in use at present produce about 5 kilowatts of power.
The Apstar-6E, China’s first all-electric satellite, will shed all its rocket engines in near-earth orbit and is designed to stay in orbit more than 30,000km (18,000 miles) from the earth for the next 15 years.