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NASA is making a powerful new ion engine to send astronauts to Mars

A prototype ion engine that uses lithium vapor as a propellant has aced its first tests, achieving 25 times more power than ...
GeekWire

Portal Space Systems brings its solar thermal propulsion system up to full power during test

Portal’s heat exchanger thruster, known as Flare, fires up during a test in a vacuum chamber. (Portal Space Systems Photo) Bothell, Wash.-based Portal Space Systems says it has successfully tested its ...
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NASA just switched on a giant solar engine, and it’s headed for the moon

The Gateway, NASA’s upcoming lunar space station, is one step closer to reality as engineers have successfully powered on its solar electric propulsion system, a spacecraft engine designed to orbit ...
TechCrunch

This founder helped build SpaceX’s most powerful rocket engine. Now he’s building a ‘fighter jet for orbit.’

Jeff Thornburg helped turn a government research project into SpaceX’s most powerful rocket engine. Now, he’s trying to do the same thing at his startup Portal Space Systems, which is taking an idea ...
SpaceNews

MMA Space Launches FlexArray Solar Array System at 2025 Small Satellite Conference

BROOMFIELD, Colo., August 11, 2025 – MMA Space has developed a low-cost solar array capable of generating tens of kilowatts that can be manufactured in a fraction of the time of conventional solar ...