GOCE’s sophisticated electric ion propulsion system has been switched on and confirmed to be operating normally, marking another crucial milestone in the satellite’s post-launch commissioning phase.

Recently NASA announced earlier this month that the 12 kW Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) — which is scheduled to form an integral part of the Lunar Gateway when it is launched — has passed ...

Aerojet, a GenCorp (NYSE: GY – News) company, and NEC Corporation (TSE: 6701 – News) announced today that the companies will explore the feasibility of jointly supplying low power ion propulsion ...

Illustration of the Hall Thruster plumes impacting the carbon surfaces at the atomistic level. CREDIT Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Electric space ...

Plasmoid thrusters have had successful proof of principle experiments done in the lab at Princeton University. The systems should be compact and simple and based upon magnetism present in solar flares ...

Elon Musk tweeted that SpaceX Starship will travel across the solar system and to the cloud of objects around us. The cloud of objects around us are either referring to the Kuiper Belt (35-80AU and ...

It isn’t so very long ago that electrical propulsion for satellites was a very new kid on the block. Boeing’s Xenon-Ion Propulsion System (XIPS) was introduced on the (then) Hughes 702 versions its ...

The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission is conducting two feasibility studies on nuclear propulsion for the European Space Agency, which could pave the way for missions to Mars ...

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 ...