Ion thruster testing. Ion thruster being tested as part of NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) Project. Here, an engineer is performing verifica
Ion thruster testing. Ion thruster being tested as part of NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) Project. Here, an engineer is performing verification tests of the imaging diagnostic suite that allows for periodic assessment of the components on the NEXT engineer during its multi-year test. Ion thrusters are a form of electrically powered spacecraft propulsion system that create thrust by accelerating ions. An ion thruster produces small levels of thrust relative to chemical thrusters, but does so at higher specific impulse (or higher exhaust velocities), which means that it has a fuel efficiency of 10-12 times greater than a chemical thruster. The higher the rocket's specific impulse (fuel efficiency), the farther the spacecraft can go with a given
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