Investigation of motion of a spacecraft with an electrodynamic engine

An electromagnetic tether system is compared with an electrodynamic engine consisting of a rigid rod with current on the ends of which the units are located that close the electric circuit through the near-earth plasma. Such an engine is shown to allow one to control the direction of the thrust force in a fairly broad range by changing the orientation of the rod with current relative to the vector of magnetic induction of the earth. The increments of the elements of the spacecraft orbit under the action of the electrodynamic engine are calculated for two limiting cases, for the motion in the plane of the earth's magnetic equator or in the plane of a magnetic meridian. The investigation conducted indicates that with the law of control of the orientation of the rod with current relative to the induction vector of the geomagnetic field being optimally chosen, this engine is promising for maneuvering light spacecraft in low near-earth orbits.