And, by some measures, it outperformed a xenon-based thruster by 50 percent. Space-based demo Working hardware was flown on a 12-unit cubesat weighing about 20 kilograms called Beihangkongshi-1.

That's why French aerospace company ThrustMe is pursuing a plan for better ion propulsion tech. They suggest using iodine instead of xenon. Iodine is incredibly prevalent, inexpensive and easy to ...

Let’s take an ion propulsion engine example: The NSTAR ion engine was developed for the Deep Space 1 satellite. This engine uses Xenon atoms that have a mass m = 2.2 x 10-25 kg and a charge of the all ...

Ion thrusters are considerably more efficient than conventional rocket motors. In this case, Boeing claims the Xenon Ion Propulsion System (XIPS) designs used for ABS-3A is ten times more ...

While yes, ion propulsion is a great thing, I think it's misleading when you/they say it's "all electric propulsion", because it isn't, it burns xenon gas.

NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) ion engine has set a new world record by clocking up 43,000 hours of continuous operation at NASA’s Glenn Research Center’s Electric Propulsion ...

Not that we don’t love Star Trek, but the writers could never decide if ion propulsion was super high tech (Spock’s Brain) or something they used every day (The Menagerie). Regardless, … ...

It’s called a xenon-ion propulsion engine, and instead of using rocket fuel, it harnesses magnetic fields to create thrust. If you take a look at the image above, you can see a tiny blue jet of ...

Xenon Ion Thruster Logs 30,000 Hours by SpaceNews Staff July 6, 2010 January 30, 2023. Click to share on X (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) ...

Ion propulsion uses positively charged atoms, or ions, to propel a spacecraft. An electron gun is used to knock electrons from a reservoir of xenon atoms, turning them into ions.

Posted in News, Solar Hacks, Space Tagged ESA, ion propulsion, JAXA, mercury, rocket, solar electric motor, space, xenon Neon Lamps Light Up Dim Ion Motor April 14, 2018 by Steven Dufresne 6 Comments ...

Now Boeing has announced the first all-electric ion propulsion satellite is fully operational. The satellite in question doesn't have a snappy name -- it's a communications satellite called ABS-3A ...