According to the info posted on the Apollo fusion website http://apollofusion.com/ , they claim to use a propellant blend that offers " 2-3 X more impulse per mass and volume" in comparison towards traditional Xenon based Hall effect thrusters. The first thought that came to my mind is that it could be an Iodine based blend, however they could right-away have mentioned about it like other propulsion companies.So are there any resources that mention the kind of blend they have developed? or could they just be tinkering with other gases into their blend to increase the impulse?
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$\begingroup$ I don't see where the site says that it is the propellant blend itself that is the source of the 2-3X, what makes you think it's not other aspects of the design? For that mater, without a direct comparison, what makes you think the 2-3X is meaningful at all? I'm not doubting it necessarily, but right now I don't see what their thruster is being compared to, or even if they are taking the power supply and associated electronics into consideration or not. Those plots just say "system volume" and "system mass". $\endgroup$– uhohCommented Nov 17, 2018 at 10:46
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According to a Bloomberg article, it's mercury. This would be the reason they don't mention it. Though fine for interplanetary missions, it's irresponsible for Earth orbit and especially low Earth orbit.
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3$\begingroup$ Can you link to the Bloomberg article please? And maybe quote the key sections? $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 6, 2019 at 17:59
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$\begingroup$ This might be the article: bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-19/… $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 7, 2019 at 13:22