SERT (Space Electric Rocket Test)
Early NASA suborbital and orbital tests of the performance of electron-bombardment ion engines. SERT 1 flew on a 30-minute suborbital mission, launched by a Scout X-4 from Wallops Island, on Jul. 20, 1964. SERT 2, which also studied how prolonged operation of such engines affect other spacecraft systems, entered a 1,040-km-high orbit on Feb. 4, 1970, having been launched by an LT Thor-Agena D from Vandenberg AFB. The two engines on SERT 2 ran, on and off, for about a decade.
Related entry
• electric propulsion
Related category
• ADVANCED PROPULSION CONCEPTS
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