Russia is testing a plasma engine prototype designed to slash Mars travel time to just 60 days. Developed by Rosatom’s ...

I have heard that ion engines are becoming reality. Will they be the space propulsion of the future? originally appeared on Quora: the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered ...

A group of French physicists has optimized a type of ion thruster to significantly extend its lifetime: the new development made it sturdy enough to be able withstand a long trip into deep space. Such ...

The phrase "engage the ion drive" still has the ring of a line from Star Wars, but these engines have been used in space missions for more than four decades and remain the subject of ongoing research.

Last week, as the world celebrated the first lunar landing, Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins both called for NASA to make Mars its next goal. But the chemical propulsion system ...

Scientists have figured out how to create a new ion engine that uses 100 million times less fuel than a chemical rocket. Though the device is a lot less powerful, it could some day be a cost-effective ...

I remember how excited I was when I first heard about the ion engine being used on NASA’s Deep Space 1 mission. It was like Star Wars, only instead of fast, highly-maneuverable TIE Fighters, the force ...

Benjamin Longmier, Michigan University, is developing the CubeSat Ambipolar Thruster (CAT), a new rocket propulsion system powered by the Sun and propelled by water, which will push small spacecraft ...

Hall thrusters combine a magnetic field and a trapped electron cloud to create a completely hollow “virtual” cathode. A small amount of propellant gas (like xenon) is injected into the thruster’s ...

The NASA spacecraft Dawn has spent more than seven years travelling across the Solar System to intercept the asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. Now in orbit around Ceres, the probe has ...