Image:Ion-engine-NASA.jpg

Ion engine in operation (from Great Images in NASA)

This file is in the public domain because it was created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". ( NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy). Deutsch | English | Español | Français | Galego | Nederlands | Português | Русский | ‪中文(简体)‬ | ‪中文(繁體)‬ | +/-

Warnings: Use of NASA logos, insignia and emblems are restricted per US law 14 CFR 1221. The NASA website hosts a large number of images from the Soviet/ Russian space agency, and other non-American space agencies. These are not necessarily in the public domain. Materials from the Hubble Space Telescope may be copyrighted if they do not explicitly come from the STScI. All materials created by the SOHO probe are copyrighted and require permission for commercial non-educational use. Images featured on the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) web site may be copyrighted.

Original caption: Cite: "Ion Engine

This image of a xenon ion engine, photographed through a port of the vacuum chamber where it was being tested at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, shows the faint blue glow of charged atoms being emitted from the engine.

The ion propulsion engine is the first non-chemical propulsion to be used as the primary means of propelling a spacecraft. The first flight in NASA's New Millennium Program, Deep Space 1 is designed to validate 12 new technologies for scientific space missions of the next century. Another onboard experiment includes software that tracks celestial bodies so the spacecraft can make its own navigation decisions without the intervention of ground controllers. Deep Space 1 will complete most of its mission objectives within the first two months, but may also do a flyby of a near-Earth asteroid, 1992 KD, in July 1999. Deep Space 1 will be launched aboard a Boeing Delta 7326 rocket from Launch Pad 17A, Cape Canaveral Air Station, in October. Delta II rockets are medium capacity expendable launch vehicles derived from the Delta family of rockets built and launched since 1960. Since then there have been more than 245 Delta launches."

From: