You're on the fourth human mission to Mars, and you're told the Odyssey spacecraft designed to take you there will be the ...

NASA fired up a prototype of its electromagnetic thruster inside a vacuum chamber, reaching power levels of up to 120 ...

Inside a long vacuum chamber in Southern California, a spacecraft engine glowed white-hot as it pushed toward a level of ...

In March 2025, a missile launched from a test range in the Pacific arced into the upper atmosphere, separated its rocket ...

Researchers at Texas A&M University have demonstrated a laser-driven propulsion system that can lift ...

DARPA believes that nuclear-powered propulsion could enable rapid maneuver in space — a capability that is difficult to achieve with current electric and chemical propulsion systems. (Defense Advanced ...

Dreams of antimatter space propulsion are closer to reality than most rocket scientists could ever imagine, says former Fermilab physicist Gerald Jackson. In fact, if money were no object, he says an ...

An illustration of a spacecraft for deep space missions powered by nuclear thermal propulsion. Congress has added funding to NASA appropriations bills to support development of the technology. Credit: ...

Electric (plasma) propulsion devices have been used for applications such as station-keeping and orbit transfer, in place of chemical rockets, because they provide a higher specific impulse. Detailed ...

Dr. Kristina Lemmer and student Margaret Mooney work in the Aerospace Laboratory for Plasma Experiments. KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Former NASA chief scientist and current undersecretary for science and ...

Accion Systems will supply miniature ion thrusters for Xplore’s XLEO satellite scheduled to launch in 2023. Credit: Xplore Inc. Luis Gomes was fed up with propulsion promises. As chief technology ...