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 … ...

These thrusters need not only be small, but also simple, unpressurized, low-power, and not include toxic materials. Funded by ESA, the ICE-Cube Thruster certainly meets the small criteria. In fact ...

The new thruster, a new plasma rocket, can use metal ions to drive spacecraft forward. Called the Super Magdrive, the new thruster uses solar power to charge capacitors to ionize any metal the ...

If it does pan out, though, the propellant-free thrusters could have a major part to play in future space missions, including the likes of NASA’s Artemis missions, which require tons of fuel to ...

NASA engineers have miraculously revived the Voyager 1 interstellar probe's backup thrusters — components that hadn't been used since 2004 and were long considered fully defunct.

The electric thrusters are solar powered, and use ionized xenon for propulsion. These kind of thrusters aren’t powerful like the chemical propulsion systems used by rockets to escape Earth’s ...

Engineers have mitigated an issue with Voyager 1’s thrusters, enabling the mission to stay in touch with mission controllers on Earth and send back unique data.

A broken thruster jeopardized Voyager 1, but engineers executed a remote fix NASA mission controllers raced against time to find a solution before a crucial ground-based radio used for ...

During tests conducted at the White Sands Space Harbor in Las Cruces, N.M., an OMAC thruster was fired in a vacuum chamber that simulated a space-like environment of 100,000 feet.

NASA has successfully reactivated Voyager 1’s backup thrusters, unused since 2004, in what NASA is calling a "miracle save" for the 48 years old probe now in deep space.