Sending an object to another star is still the stuff of science fiction. But some concrete missions could get us at least part way there. These "interstellar precursor missions" include a trip to the ...

Ion thrusters are an amazing spacecraft propulsion technology, providing very high efficiency with relatively little fuel. Yet getting one to produce more thrust than that required to lift a sheet of ...

Proving yet again that Star Trek was scarily prescient, NASA has announced that its NEXT ion drive -- NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster -- has operated continually for over 43,000 hours (five years).

Add Futurism (opens in a new tab) More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. NASA is ...

As much as we love Star Trek, we have to admit there are some continuity problems. For example, in Spock’s Brain, the alien-of-the-week’s ion drive gave Scotty engineering envy. However, in The ...

NASA's mission DART will test our ability to redirect an asteroid by quite literally crashing into it — but the spacecraft will also test a new type of propulsion system for the agency. NASA's ...