While these massive devices are marvels of human engineering, the real workhorses of the space industry are the immensely ...

Ion engines won’t get you out of Earth’s gravity well, nor do they work in the atmosphere, but become useful when you’re in the vacuum of space. Credit: NASA, public domain Before we dive ...

much like existing ion engines. Where it differs is in the power output, which should allow it to work as the primary propulsion method for large deep space and cargo missions. Much of the ...

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 propulsion concept was first used in ...

A spacecraft traveling at one-tenth of the speed of light could shave the trip down to a quick 40 years. Future engineers could use nuclear power to achieve that, says Scott Bailey, an engineer at ...

Dr. King is an experimentalist interested in studying electric space propulsion systems, including Hall-effect thrusters, ion engines, and arcjets. By utilizing strong electromagnetic forces to ...

You have to account for the chamber wall effects, which are not present in space ... the engine or whether the coating damage was artificially mitigated by the deposition of carbon from ion ...