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Article: To boldly go: plasma-powered engines could bring us closer to deep-space travel.(News Feature)
- Article from:
- Chemistry and Industry
- Article date:
- January 23, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Society of Chemical Industry. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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It may not be warp speed but new rocket engine concepts could make space flight a much faster business than it is today, possibly enabling humans to get to distant planets, such as Mars.
Recently, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced that it is going ahead with advanced trials of a new plasma system developed by scientists in Australia. Plasma thrusters have been in development for decades, but scientists at the National University of Australia (ANU) in Canberra say that they have discovered a new effect that vastly improves the efficiency of plasma thrusters, bringing us closer to deep-space travel.
'Our system has an infinite lifetime, is simpler, ...