The Engine Burns Blue

The Engine Burns Blue

05/24/2013 12:00 AM EDT

This image shows a cutting-edge solar-electric propulsion thruster in development at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., that uses xenon ions for propulsion. An earlier version of this solar-electric propulsion engine has been flying on NASA's Dawn mission to the asteroid belt.

This engine is being considered as part of the Asteroid Initiative, a proposal to robotically capture a small near-Earth asteroid and redirect it safely to a stable orbit in the Earth-moon system where astronauts can visit and explore it.

This image was taken through a porthole in a vacuum chamber at JPL where the ion engine is being tested.  
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Asteroid centre

Asteroid centre

23-05-2013 02:09 PM CEST

Webcast replay: Near Earth Object Coordination Centre inauguration 22 May 2013 at ESA/ESRIN, Italy.

Invito per la stampa: Inaugurazione del Centro ESA di Coordinamento degli Oggetti Vicini alla Terra, presso Esrin - 22 maggio 2013

Invitation to the press: Opening of the ESA for the Coordination of Near Earth Objects at ESRIN - May 22, 2013

16-05-2013 10:34 AM CEST

Media representatives are invited to the inauguration of the Center for the Coordination of ESA Near Earth Objects at ESRIN in Frascati, near Rome. This is the second center to be opened in the Agency's Space Situational Awareness program, after the Coordination Center for Space Weather which was inaugurated in Brussels last month.