NASA’s Psyche mission fires up its futuristic electric engines

NASA has turned on the electric Hall thrusters of Psyche, a spacecraft that’s now gently motoring toward a metal-rich asteroid embedded in the main asteroid belt beyond Mars. The agency says Psyche is in “full cruise” mode now, six months after launching on October 13th, 2023, on a conventional, SpaceX rocket. On the way, NASA used Psyche to test laser-based deep space communications.

There are lots of different kinds of ion propulsion, including the magnetic Hall thrusters used by Psyche. In 2018, Psyche’s Spacecraft Chief Engineer wrote this detailed explanation of the differences between those and other ion thrusters, as well as other kinds like arc jets and microwave thrusters. NASA first used ion propulsion as a spacecraft’s main propulsion for 1998’s Deep Space 1, a mission specifically conducted to test “various advanced technologies for future interplanetary missions.

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NASA's Psyche fires up its sci-fi-worthy thrustersNASA's Psyche spacecraft passed its six-month checkup with a clean bill of health, and there's no holding back now. Navigators are firing its futuristic-looking electric thrusters, which emit a blue glow, nearly nonstop as the orbiter zips farther into deep space.
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