NASA Tests Ion Engine 25x More Powerful for Mars
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has fired up a lithium-fed magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thruster reaching 120 kilowatts — the highest power ever achieved by an electric propulsion system in the United States. This is over 25 times more powerful than the thrusters powering NASA’s Psyche spacecraft.
With this breakthrough technology, astronauts could reach Mars in just weeks instead of the current seven-month journey. The experimental MPD thruster is part of a nuclear electric propulsion system being developed for crewed Mars missions.
This represents a giant leap forward for human space exploration.