[en] Nowadays, the level of technological progress, the foundations of which were laid in previous decades, has made it possible to practically master the use of near-earth orbits and conduct separate research trips beyond them. Further steps, including expanding the functionality of space vehicles in near-Earth orbits, the creation and regular operation of a lunar space base, large-scale planetary and other bodies of the solar system exploration, and sounding of deep space, requires, first of all, a sharp increase in the capabilities and efficiency of space transport systems. A further increase in the flow rate of the working fluid requires an increase in its specific energy content, that is, conversion to a plasma state, which is implemented in ion engines. In ion engines, ion beams are accelerated in an electric field organized by electrodes. The volume charge in the accelerating gap is not compensated; this serves as one of the restrictions on the current density in such a beam. In the present work, we took hydrogen, deuterium, helium, nitrogen, argon, krypton, xenon as the working fluid, for which the dependences of the optimal ion emission current density on the distance and voltage between the electrodes of the accelerating gap, breakdown voltage of distance between the electrodes, specific thrust of the specific impulse, specific impulse of the mass number of ions and others were calculated, and the most promising and effective working fluid was determined. (paper)

[en] The work provides description of a new test bench for the cooling efficiency of a working area with a high energy density using a two-component dispersed coolant flow. The pneumatic atomizer design and a scheme of the working area, cooled by a two-component dispersed flow are described. A measurement method of the working area wall temperature is proposed. Arrays of primary test data are obtained for coolant operating parameters p _water = 2, 0·10⁵ Pa, p _air = 1, 6·10⁵ Pa, G _water = 0, 042 kg/c; G _air = 1, 6·10⁻³ kg/c. (paper)

[en] The tungsten divertor mock-ups were tested with high-heat fluxes in the e-beam facility and in the plasma device. The water-cooled mock-ups are tested with the combination of plasma and e-beam loads: (1) thermocyclic tests with the highpower electron beam load ranging from 5 to 40 MW/m² and then (2) tests in the PLM plasma device with stationary plasma loads of up to 5 MW/m². Such two tests are performed together for the first time. They simulate the variable loads onto the divertor plates, which can occur in the ITER during stationary discharges with transient ELM events. The duration of helium plasma discharges in the PLM amounted to 200 minutes. The temperature of the test targets heating amounted to 1000°C and more. (paper)