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 ...

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.

Unlike most interplanetary probes, Dawn is not propelled by a chemical rocket engine, but by a solar-electric ion propulsion system, particularly suitable for long-distance flights. This innovative ...

Hollow cathodes are used as part of both Hall effect and gridded ion thrusters, which are some of the most common forms of electric propulsion in use today. The operation of hollow cathodes, despite ...

Russia's Rosatom is developing a plasma electric rocket engine that could drastically reduce travel time to Mars, potentially ...

Electrospray (ES) 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 ...

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 ...

This AI technique can be applied not only to Hall thrusters, but also to the research and development of ion beam sources used in various industries such as semiconductors, surface treatment ...