What do scanning electron microscopes and satellites have in common? On the face of things, not much, but after seeing [Zachary Tong]’s latest video on liquid metal ion thrusters, we see that they ...

Demand for electric propulsion is growing for space applications and the proposed technological solutions are evolving fast. Gridded Ion Technology allows a more efficient management of Xe, providing ...

Aerojet, a GenCorp (NYSE:GY) company, announced today that its innovative ion propulsion engine – built in partnership between Aerojet and NASA’s Glenn Research Center – has completed a test series ...

Desert Works Propulsion expands U.S. ion propulsion capability through domestic manufacturing partnership and test capacity growth ...

Pale Blue plans to demonstrate its 1U water ion thruster twice in 2025 on D-Orbit’s Ion Satellite Carrier, an orbital transfer vehicle. The contract with D-Orbit includes two launch opportunities and ...

A form of electric propulsion known as Hall thrusters — a type of ion thruster — may actually pack more bang for the buck than expected. Hall thrusters have conventionally been used to adjust the ...

Electric space propulsion systems use energized atoms to generate thrust. The high-speed beams of ions bump against the graphite surfaces of the thruster, eroding them with each hit, and are the ...

In 2018, Elon Musk put a Tesla in space. Like many of the billionaire’s antics, it was a publicity stunt. However, it pointed to an undeniable truth: the future of space travel is electric. Most ...

The X3 Nested-channel Hall Thruster (NHT), is a 100-kW class thruster developed jointly by the Plasmadynamics and Electric Propulsion Laboratory (PEPL) at the University of Michigan, led by Alec ...

Rockets might be fiery fun, but they’re big, bulky, and heavy. Ion thrusters, sci-fi as they sound, are real and these penny-sized ones are probably the future of steering small satellites in orbit.