this post was submitted on 03 May 2026
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NASA fired up a prototype of its electromagnetic thruster inside a vacuum chamber, reaching power levels of up to 120 kilowatts—the highest achieved in U.S. tests of an electric propulsion system (gizmodo.com)
submitted 2 days ago by sanitation@lemmy.radio to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Launching a crewed spacecraft to Mars might require 2 to 4 megawatts of power, meaning multiple MPD thrusters operating for more than 23,000 hours.

Btw, what happened with the VASIMIR engine after the ISS tests in 2011ish? I think i've read that it could do the whole trip in 5 months (high-impulse insertion burns, high-speed & low-impulse travel). Somewhere on the shelves? Too high power draw?