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
A thruster during test firing
Artist rendition of VASIMR plasma engine
Spacecraft electric propulsion encompasses spacecraft propulsion systems that use electric energy to accelerate and expel propellant, generating thrust through electric or magnetic fields. Their princ
Plasma propulsion engine
…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 an ion current…
A 6 kW xenon Hall thruster in operation at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1911 predicted that electricity may some day propel vehicles.
Hermann Oberth (center), with (l-r) Ernst Stuhlinger, Holger Toftoy, Wernher von Braun, and Robert Lusser at Marshall Space Flight Center. Oberth is credited with defining electric propulsion concepts as a "serious and worthy pursuit in astronautics".
SERT-1 was the first ion engine NASA spacecraft, launched on July 20, 1964.