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Ion Engine Propels Probe to Moon

Posted by michael on from the ludicrous-speed dept.

lenin writes "The BBC is reporting that Europe's first moon mission, SMART-1, appears to be a success thus far. It also talks about the low-cost technology being used and the charged xenon (ion) propulsion system. Can TIE-fighters be far off?"

2 of 330 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Its about time. by dex22 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Russia does far more launches than the US.
    Russia does them much more safely. In manned launches, they have something like a 99.9% success rate (one launch mishap in over 1000 launches). The US has had two mishaps in about 115 launches.

  2. Re:Ion drive is cool, but... by Clueless+Moron · · Score: 5, Insightful
    slightly more economical???

    This project cost just 100E6 Euros. That's about one quarter the cost of a single shuttle launch, never mind the astronomical costs of each Apollo mission.

    Personally I'd much rather see 4 new projects like this and one fewer shuttle launch.