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NASA's Office of Space Science has announced the selection of a team to development an advanced ion propulsion system for NASA missions. Ion drives are an alternative to conventional chemical rockets and use electricity to accelerate ions of Xenon out of the engine to generate thrust. The heavy Xenon atoms can be sped up to 89,000 mph and produce up to ten times more thrust per unit of fuel than chemical rockets. Because of their efficiency spacecraft with ion drives can operate for longer and need to carry less propellant than those with conventional engines allowing more science to be undertaken.
The NASA space probe Deep Space 1 was accelerated to 7,900 mph by an ion thruster just 12 inches in diameter and now NASA want to develop an upgraded version of the drive. The NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) will be developed by a team lead by NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland with other components designed by Boeing Electron Dynamic Devices, Inc. Ion drives have also been developed by the European Space Agency and are to be used on the ESA Smart 1 mission. Initial test versions of the NEXT drive to be completed in a years time.
More info: Spaceflight Now Article
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