Post B6urHcZVYDFtXgM4rA by azonenberg@ioc.exchange
 (DIR) More posts by azonenberg@ioc.exchange
 (DIR) Post #B6umGS8ANwPr6FBpq4 by azonenberg@ioc.exchange
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       Dreamt I was watching a damaged scientific satellite from a nearby viewpoint floating in space.The bus was a rectangular shape about 2:1 aspect ratio with no visible solar arrays, perhaps not yet extended.Its reaction wheels and one large annular ion thruster were working but the other ion thruster on the far side of the centerline had fallen silent for some reason causing off center thrust. It was twitching back and forth, firing the one good thruster for a short time then rotating at an implausible speed (given its likely mass) with a reaction wheel and firing it more in a different direction to dither the thrust vector in the desired direction. Felt like watching an injured animal limping around but lacking any repair parts I was helpless to aid.
       
 (DIR) Post #B6uoCS4sq8VXgYsGeW by azonenberg@ioc.exchange
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       How it was powering the thruster with no solar panels I don't know... RTG? Dream logic?It also didn't seem to be spinning despite the off axis thrust but maybe the reaction wheel or torque rods were compensating
       
 (DIR) Post #B6urHcAh2TPEIikGB6 by tempusfelix@wehavecookies.social
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       @azonenberg A fair number have batteries on board for the non solar moments. Could have been the thruster was running on battery. Also. That bird has existed and still does. The panels were on the case itself.
       
 (DIR) Post #B6urHcZVYDFtXgM4rA by azonenberg@ioc.exchange
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       @tempusfelix Yeah although panels on the bus likely would not have been sufficient for the kind of ion thruster in the dream bus - they were fairly large annular Hall thrusters that were probably 5+ kW each.