"The test involved the largest microwave ion thruster ever built. The use of microwaves for ionization would enable very long-life thrusters for probing the universe," he said.

NASA has conducted the first test of a high-power ion engine that could propel the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) planned under the Project Prometheus nuclear-powered spacecraft initiative. The ...

A powerful new ion propulsion system has been successfully ground-tested by NASA. The High Power Electric Propulsion ion engine trial marks the “first measurable milestone” for the ambitious ...

In this configuration, the water is atomized via a microwave plasma source and ejected out the back of the propulsion system, similar to a typical ion thruster.

Ion propulsion isn’t powerful enough to launch a rocket from Earth, but they can still reach very high speeds over time. Right now, NASA says Psyche is traveling at 23 miles per second, or about ...

When [Jay Bowles] demoed his first-generation ion thruster on Plasma Channel, the resulting video picked up millions of views and got hobbyists and professionals alike talking. While ionic lifters … ...

While commercial ion thrusters are good enough for most LEO satellites, these engines only use “10% or less of a small spacecraft’s initial mass in propellant,” according to NASA.

Ion thrusters need a power source and an effective one if they will last more than a decade under thrust. The paper defined an ideal power plan that can output 1 kW per kg of weight.

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 ...

Pale Blue plans to demonstrate thruster performance in June and October 2025 on flights of D-Orbit’s ION Satellite Carrier. Since 2020, D-ORbit has deployed 105 satellites and hosted 48 payloads ...

The propulsion system for NASA's planned moon-orbiting Gateway space station has been undergoing qualification testing at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.