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NASA is making a powerful new ion engine to send astronauts to Mars

A prototype ion engine that uses lithium vapor as a propellant has aced its first tests, achieving 25 times more power than ...

NASA tests lithium thruster: Milestone for manned Mars missions?

NASA has successfully tested a magnetoplasmadynamic thruster with lithium propellant. The technology is considered key for ...
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NASA tests record-breaking ion thruster for future Mars missions

NASA has successfully tested a 120-kilowatt magnetoplasmadynamic ion thruster, 25 times more powerful than its current top-performing engine. The technology is planned to scale to megawatt levels and ...
NewsBytes

NASA conducts US 1st 120 kW MPD test at JPL

NASA has successfully tested a lithium-fed magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) ion engine, achieving 120 kilowatts of power — 25 times ...
SpaceNews

NASA’s New ION Engine Ready for Missions in Space

CLEVELAND — A small robotic surveyor arrives to explore a near-Earth asteroid. Another robotic spacecraft is returning to Earth with a pristine comet surface sample. Meanwhile, a robotic explorer is ...

New lithium-plasma engine passes key Mars propulsion test

You're on the fourth human mission to Mars, and you're told the Odyssey spacecraft designed to take you there will be the ...
The Verge

NASA’s Psyche mission fires up its futuristic electric engines

Psyche is gently gliding to its target asteroid by expelling ionized xenon. Psyche is gently gliding to its target asteroid by expelling ionized xenon. NASA has turned on the electric Hall thrusters ...