Space has a trash problem, with defunct satellites, rockets, and smaller broken bits orbiting Earth at high speeds. The amount of space junk is only increasing, raising the risk of collision with ...

Helicon plasma propulsion is emerging as a promising branch of electric space propulsion, employing helicon waves to generate high‐density plasmas which are then accelerated through a magnetic nozzle.

The big picture: In deep-space travel, the race is no longer about who has the biggest rocket – it's about who can build the smartest plasma engine. As the competition to reach Mars intensifies, ...

Plasma jet engines promise a future of fuel-free, electrically driven flight, but the technology faces a stubborn obstacle that no amount of enthusiasm can wish away. Ionizing air to generate thrust ...

Russian scientists say they are closing in on a propulsion breakthrough that could compress the journey from Earth to Mars from roughly 300 days to about one month. The project centers on a high power ...

A laboratory in Troitsk, Russia, may have just nudged humanity closer to interplanetary commuting. Scientists at Rosatom, the country's state nuclear corporation, have revealed a working prototype of ...