Getting that fuel into orbit is costly, too! Ion thrusters, in their various forms, offer an alternative solution – miniscule thrust, but high fuel efficiency. This tiny push won’t get you off ...

A next-generation thruster developed by NASA may have brought the long awaited advent of interplanetary travel a step closer, ...

On the face of things, not much, but after seeing [Zachary Tong]’s latest video on liquid metal ion thrusters, we see that they seem to have a lot more in common than we’d initially thought.

More information: Huy D. Tran et al, Carbon Transport in Electric Propulsion Testing – I: Multiscale Computations for Carbon Sputtering by Low Energy Ion Bombardment, AIAA SCITECH 2024 Forum (2024).

The DLR-Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology performs a lifetime qualification test of ArianeGroup’s radio frequency gridded ion thruster RIT2x in the Electric Space Propulsion Test Facility ...

Electrospray (ES) thrusters generate low thrust via the electrostatic extraction of charged species from an electrified liquid. These systems are characterized by the propellant used and emission mode ...