A crewed expedition to Mars promises to push the absolute limits of human endurance. To grasp the sheer scale of the journey, ...

For years, nuclear propulsion sat in the same category as so many ambitious space ideas, impressive on paper, always a few ...

Inside a long vacuum chamber in Southern California, a spacecraft engine glowed white-hot as it pushed toward a level of ...

A powerful new electromagnetic thruster has taken a major step forward after a successful high-energy test at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Fueled by lithium vapor and driven by intense magnetic ...

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

When your rover absolutely, positively must reach Mars on a budget, call SpaceX.

Earlier this year, rocket scientists at NASA fired up an electromagnetic thruster powered by lithium metal vapor.

NASA has successfully tested a lithium-fed magnetoplasmadynamic thruster at 120 kilowatts, the highest power level for U.S. electric propulsion. The technology, intended for the SR-1 Freedom nuclear ...

NASA's Artemis program aims to return humans to the moon, which is seen as a stepping stone for future missions to Mars. The upcoming Artemis II mission will be a 10-day test flight circling the moon ...

"I’d say that while an astronaut could make it to Mars they might need dialysis on the way back," researchers said.