Photo: Ion power: NASA’s new ion-propulsion system is undergoing testing at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. Credit: NASA From Technology Review:
NASA's new ion-propulsion system could be ready for launch as soon as 2013.
NASA engineers have finished testing a new ion-propulsion system for earth-orbiting and interplanetary spacecraft. The system is more powerful and fuel-efficient than its predecessors, enabling it to travel farther than ever before.
Ion propulsion works by electrically charging, or ionizing, a gas using power from solar panels and emitting the ionized gas to propel the spacecraft in the opposite direction. The concept was first developed over 50 years ago, and the first spacecraft to use the technology was Deep Space 1 (DS1) in 1998. Since then, one other spacecraft has used ion propulsion: the Dawn mission to the outer solar system, launched in 2007.
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