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 ...

Imagine a plane with no moving parts, no noise, and reduced maintenance costs. MIT’s ion propulsion plane is here to make it a reality. Learn how this breakthrough works and what it means for ...

Get Instant Summarized Text (Gist) Simulations of electric ion thrusters have been validated through experiments, addressing challenges in predicting thruster lifespan due to chamber wall effects ...

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 ...

A research team presents an AI assessor for Hall-effect ion thrusters, the engines of satellites and space probes. Hall thrusters, a key space technology for missions like SpaceX's Starlink ...

But in traditional ion engines, sometimes called Hall thrusters, the constant bombardment of energized particles against the back wall of the engine gradually wears it down until the device shorts ...

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.

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 of the ion beam.