Spacecraft powered by electric propulsion could soon be better protected against their own exhaust, thanks to new ...

Ion engines won’t get you out of Earth’s gravity ... The higher the specific impulse of a rocket thruster, the more thrust it generates per mass of fuel. Impulse is the integral of force ...

The AEPS is a solar electric propulsion system that uses xenon as its propellant, much like existing ion engines. Where it differs is in the power output, which should allow it to work as the ...

Supercomputer simulations advance electric propulsion by tackling ion plume challenges for safer space missions.

Unlike most interplanetary probes, Dawn is not propelled by a chemical rocket engine, but by a solar-electric ion propulsion system, particularly suitable for long-distance flights. This innovative ...

Predicting the lifetime of an electric ion thruster is notoriously difficult. You have to account for the chamber wall effects, which are not present in space environments. Researchers within several ...

A research team presents an AI assessor for Hall-effect ion thrusters, the engines of satellites and space probes.

The space agency is developing a brand-new ion thruster engine to slowly propel an Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) spaceship to a boulder in space, capture it, and bring it near the moon where ...

Pale Blue plans to demonstrate its 1U water ion thruster twice in 2025 on D-Orbit’s Ion Satellite Carrier, an orbital transfer vehicle. The contract with D-Orbit includes two launch ...