While it has been considered a promising candidate for a while, a commercial company called ThrustMe is now reporting that it has demonstrated an iodine-powered ion thruster in space for the first ...

That's why French aerospace company ThrustMe is pursuing a plan for better ion propulsion tech. They suggest using iodine instead of xenon. Iodine is incredibly prevalent, inexpensive and easy to ...

The ion propellant comes pre-loaded in the NPT30-I2. When the engine is brought on line, the plug is heated and sublimates into gas. The iodine molecules are then given an electric charge and ...

But right now, nearly all ion propulsion relies on xenon gas to generate fuel, which is rare and expensive to produce. Iodine, on the other hand, is both more prevalent and more efficient for ...

In contrast, iodine is cheap, is abundant, and can be stored as a solid, enabling much more compact thrusters at less than half the cost of an equivalent xenon system. But iodine is also corrosive ...

Electric thrusters that use iodine as a propellant could soon find their way onto lots of spacecraft. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how ...