Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Solar Electric Spacecraft Propulsion Could Get NASA To an Asteroid

Posted by samzenpus on from the here-comes-the-sun dept.

coondoggie writes "In the process of detailing its $17.7 billion 2014 budget this week, NASA highlighted a mission to snag a 500-ton asteroid, bring it back, stash it near the moon and study it. It also took the time to put in a plug for an ongoing research project called Solar Electric Propulsion, which NASA says could be the key technology it needs to pull off the asteroid plan."

1 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. Awesome by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Glad you linked that article that includes mention of this mystery research project for Solar Electric Propulsion and mentions not a single speck of information as to what the hell that is.

    in case you're wondering its the kind of ion drive Deep Space 1 (NSTAR) , progressing technology but not some crazy new thing.