Spacecraft could one day be propelled by ion beams shooting up from the Moon, according to a recent concept study.
NASA's Project Prometheus recently reached an important milestone with the first successful test of an engine that could lead to revolutionary propulsion capabilities for space exploration missions throughout the solar system and beyond.
A revolutionary form of engine has propelled a Nasa space probe deeper and more efficiently into the solar system than anything ever launched before. Nasa said the ion propulsion engine has been successfully powering the Deep Space 1 probe for 200 days, much longer than a traditional space engine which normally runs out of fuel after a few days.
Ion propulsion has now entered the mainstream after the successful flight of 'Deep Space Flight 1' last year.