One of the most exciting new applications is in xenon-ion propulsion engines for space travel. Onboard NASA's Dawn spacecraft, launched in 2007 to study distant asteroids Vesta and Ceres ...

Xenon, krypton, or argon are common choices for these thrusters, though other materials, like magnesium, zinc, and iodine have been experimented with in some designs. The vast majority of ion ...

Predicting the lifetime of an electric ion thruster is notoriously difficult. You have to account for the chamber wall ...

The AEPS is a solar electric propulsion system that uses xenon as its propellant, much like existing ion engines. Where it differs is in the power output, which should allow it to work as the ...

In an ion propulsion system, electrons are fired into a magnetic field containing the noble gas xenon. When a xenon atom is hit, it loses one of its negatively charged electrons and turns into a ...

Hall-effecct ion thrusters use an electric field from solar panels to accelerate a propellant, usually xenon gas. This electric field limits the motion of electron plasma, and then uses those ...

A neutral propellant, often xenon, is flowed through the cylindrical device and ionized by the electron current from the walls, thus creating a quasi-neutral plasma which is extracted through an ...