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 ...

The AEPS is a solar electric propulsion system that uses xenon as its propellant, much like existing ion engines. Where it differs is in the power output, which should allow it to work as the ...

Ion engines won’t get you out of Earth’s gravity ... The higher the specific impulse of a rocket thruster, the more thrust it generates per mass of fuel. Impulse is the integral of force ...

Hence an electric propulsion system is also referred to as an ion engine. According to Sir Isaac Newton's third law of motion, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The plume of ions ...

Supercomputer simulations advance electric propulsion by tackling ion plume challenges for safer space missions.

Ion engines propel a spacecraft one atom at a ... told Tech Insider in an email. "But the thruster can be fired for cumulated periods of time much above those of chemical spacecrafts," he wrote.

Unlike chemical rockets that throw out gasses for propulsion, ion engines are powered by individual atoms, which makes them ...

Predicting the lifetime of an electric ion thruster is notoriously difficult ... "We can simulate the damage to the engine caused by sputtering, but until now, we could not validate that our ...

The space agency is developing a brand-new ion thruster engine to slowly propel an Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) spaceship to a boulder in space, capture it, and bring it near the moon where ...