NASA ENGINEERS BREAK RECORDS WITH X3 Life – or at least a human settlement – on Mars has taken that step closer to reality thanks to NASA engineers. They have tested the X3 thruster and it’s broken records. One of the three prototype engines in development for a trip to Mars, the ‘Hall thruster’ uses electric and magnetic fields to ionise gases such as xenon and expel ions to create thrust. In the recent tests, the X3 broke three different records previously set by other Hall thrusters. Most importantly of course is thrust: the X3 blasted off with 5.4 newtons of force, smashing the previous record of 3.3 newtons. It also managed an operating current of 250 amperes, which is more than double that of the previous record, and ran at 102 kilowatts of power, just edging out the previous record of 98 kW.
EN-Dec17-eMag
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