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by e_y_
1487 days ago
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Space is pretty empty. From what I can find, the interplanetary medium is around 5 particles/cm^3 compared to the exhaust from the ion thruster which seems to be around 10^6 particles/cm^3 and disperses to 10^4 particles/cm^3 further away. Source: https://trs.jpl.nasa.gov/handle/2014/15643 "As the charge-exchange plasma
density near spacecraft is at least about three orders of magnitude larger than the solar wind plasma density, the plasma environment of DS1 spacecraft is completely dominated by the charge-exchange plasma in the plume." |
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