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NASA Ground Tests Ion Engine

Posted by timothy on Tuesday November 25, 2003 @12:53PM from the better-than-the-nea-I-guess dept.

herda05 writes "New Scientist reports from a press release by NASA on a successful ground test of the HiPEP (High Power Electric Propulsion) ion engine, which is the first 'major milestone' for Project Prometheus. Also some pictures and more info on the HiPEP engine."

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So..... by FinestLittleSpace · 2003-11-25 21:43 · Score: 2, Interesting

.... can someone actually tell me what potential application this has... i.e. how far it'll get a rocket.... will it just be a quicker trip to mars for probes or are we looking at something which could send probes out the solar system and beyond...? If so... how long will/would it take to get to amrs, and simiarly, are we anywhere near reaching the nearest star after the sun? :)