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.

which was powered by regular ion thrusters. Earth to Mars? Four months. Earth to Saturn? Two years. Rather than launch from Earth each time, several Sunbirds would be “docked” in low-Earth ...

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 ...

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 ...

SpaceX is actively communicating with the deployed satellites to utilize their ion thrusters in an attempt to raise their orbits. It remains uncertain how this incident will impact SpaceX's ...

A key breakthrough is a magnetic focusing Hall thruster, which uses a specially designed magnetic field to control electron conduction and ion acceleration. With enhanced performance, the thruster ...