Why the Psyche spacecraft’s futuristic electric thrusters glow blue

NASA’s Psyche mission is on its way to visit a strange metal asteroid located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and it recently kicked on its blue-glowing electric thrusters to carry it on the next leg of its journey.

The engines on Psyche, called Hall thrusters, could run continuously for years before using up all of the 2,030 pounds of xenon fuel the spacecraft carries. Regular chemical thrusters would use fuel at around 15 times that rate. The xenon fuel creates a blue glow from the thruster as the atoms become ionized by the thrusters’ electromagnetic fields, powered by the spacecraft’s solar panels.

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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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