Installation of an Ion-X thruster for testing in a vacuum chamber. Credit: Cyril Fresillon C2N Ion-X CNRS Images SAN FRANCISCO – French propulsion startup Ion-X raised 13 million euros ($13.67 million ...

BepiColombo, the joint ESA/JAXA spacecraft on a mission to Mercury, is now firing its thrusters for the first time in flight. On Sunday, BepiColombo carried out the first successful manoeuver using ...

In 2018, Elon Musk put a Tesla in space. Like many of the billionaire’s antics, it was a publicity stunt. However, it pointed to an undeniable truth: the future of space travel is electric. Most ...

Earth's low orbit is filled with satellites — some new, some decades old. This has become an issue as orbit fills with space debris from broken or failed satellites, making removing them a challenge.

What do scanning electron microscopes and satellites have in common? On the face of things, not much, but after seeing [Zachary Tong]’s latest video on liquid metal ion thrusters, we see that they ...

Ion thrusters are an amazing spacecraft propulsion technology, providing very high efficiency with relatively little fuel. Yet getting one to produce more thrust than that required to lift a sheet of ...

After considerable redesign, the BSI Mark II is the most potent ionic thruster of modular design yet. It improves upon my first Ionic thruster in every category imaginable, and, is structurally very ...