A prototype ion engine that uses lithium vapor as a propellant has aced its first tests, achieving 25 times more power than previous ion engines.

The first human Mars explorers won’t have it easy. Every additional day in deep space will increase their exposure to deadly ...

NASA just nudged its Mars ambitions forward with a lab test of a new ion engine that vastly outmuscles anything it's flown before. The lithium-fed magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thruster hit 120 kilowatts ...

CLEVELAND — A small robotic surveyor arrives to explore a near-Earth asteroid. Another robotic spacecraft is returning to Earth with a pristine comet surface sample. Meanwhile, a robotic explorer is ...

Psyche is gently gliding to its target asteroid by expelling ionized xenon. Psyche is gently gliding to its target asteroid by expelling ionized xenon. NASA has turned on the electric Hall thrusters ...

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft successfully completed the first test of its ion propulsion system over the weekend. The system is vital to the success of Dawn’s 8-year, 1.6 billion-kilometer (3-billion-mile) ...

A rendezvous with the metallic asteroid 16 Psyche is scheduled for 2029. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. NASA's mission to the ...

On February 24, 2026, a team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, ignited a magnetoplasmadynamic thruster (MPD thruster) powered by lithium metal vapor for the first time. At ...

The Mandalorian & Grogu arrived at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on May 14, 2026 — the night before NASA's Psyche spacecraft executed a gravity-assist flyby of Mars using a xenon-fueled ion ...