Ion thruster
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An ion thruster, ion drive, or ion engine is a form of electric propulsion used for spacecraft propulsion. An ion thruster creates a cloud of positive ions from a neutral gas by ionizing it to extract
The 2.3 kW NSTAR ion thruster developed by NASA for the Deep Space 1 spacecraft during a hot fire test at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (1999)
NEXIS ion engine test (2005)
SERT-1 spacecraft
Thruster components
Plasma propulsion engine
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A plasma propulsion engine is a type of electric propulsion that generates thrust from a quasi-neutral plasma. This is in contrast with ion thruster engines, which generate thrust through extracting a
Ion thruster
…species (free electrons as well as positive and negative ions) in the same direction whatever their electric charge, and are specifically referred to as plasma propulsion engines, where the electric field is not in the direction of the acceleration. Ion thrusters in operation typically consume 1–7 kW of power, have exhaust…
A thruster during test firing
Artist rendition of VASIMR plasma engine