A prototype ion engine that uses lithium vapor as a propellant has aced its first tests, achieving 25 times more power than ...

GOCE’s sophisticated electric ion propulsion system has been switched on and confirmed to be operating normally, marking another crucial milestone in the satellite’s post-launch commissioning phase.

NASA has successfully tested a 120-kilowatt lithium-fed magnetoplasmadynamic thruster, its most powerful ion engine to date, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The technology, about 25 times stronger ...

Electric propulsion is increasingly looking like the technology that will underlie a first attempt to walk on the Red Planet.

CLEVELAND — A small robotic surveyor arrives to explore a near-Earth asteroid. Another robotic spacecraft is returning to Earth with a pristine comet surface sample. Meanwhile, a robotic explorer is ...

You're on the fourth human mission to Mars, and you're told the Odyssey spacecraft designed to take you there will be the ...

American space agency NASA announced the first major test of a new lithium-fed magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thruster that could ...

NASA has successfully tested a magnetoplasmadynamic thruster with lithium propellant. The technology is considered key for ...

Milan, 30 October 2024 – Create a prototype of an efficient aircraft capable of flying with ion propulsion. This is the aim of the IPROP project, led by Politecnico di Milano, and funded by the EU ...

NASA has successfully tested a 120-kilowatt magnetoplasmadynamic ion thruster, 25 times more powerful than its current top-performing engine. The technology is planned to scale to megawatt levels and ...