FAST NEW ENGINE

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29102, 14 January 1960, Page 9

FAST NEW ENGINE

Power For U.S. Rockets (Rec. 10.30 p.m.) CLEVELAND (Ohio), January 13 Space scientists here are working on an ion rocket engine capable of propelling rockets at speeds of more than 100.000 miles an hour, it was announced yesterday. Mr Howard Childs, chief of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s electric propulsion laboratory here, said the new engine had great potential. “We have built models of an ion engine that could lift rocket ships six times more easily than now is possible,” he said

The test model recently ran for 50 hours in tests, he said He added that it now was out of tho realm of the “possible” and into the “very probable." He said there were still some problems to be overcome before the engine could be operational, “but we regard them as being purely engineering problems" The basic research was nearly finished

The engine works when the rare metal caesium, as a liquid, is introduced to tungsten. Positive and negative ions are formed, which race at a vast speed towards rows of electrodes at the rear of the engine They are diverted at the last moment, and provide propulsion as they rush out of the rear of the engine There are no moving parts in the engine, and therefore nothing to wear out. Dr Childs said

Wool Export^.—Australian wool exports for the five months to November 30 were nearly £35.000.000 higher at £141.000.000 than in the corresponding months of 1958—Canberra. January 13