t left, xenon plasma emits a blue glow from an electric Hall thruster identical to those that will propel NASA's Psyche spacecraft to the main asteroid belt. On the right is a similar non-operating thruster. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Source: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/solar-electric-propulsion-makes-nasas-psyche-spacecraft-go/

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   AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Friday, 02-May-2025 03:32:16 JST AkaSci 🛰️

   NASA engineers are troubleshooting an issue with the solar electric hall-effect thrusters on the Psyche spacecraft. A drop in pressure in the line that feeds xenon gas to the thrusters (36 psi -> 26 psi) has caused the thrusters to shut down. If a fix is not found by mid-June, a back-up fuel line may be activated.

   Hall-effect thrusters work by ionizing atoms of a gas like Xenon, accelerating them to high speeds and expelling them to generate a gentle steady thrust.

   https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/psyche/2025/04/29/nasas-psyche-mission-looking-into-propulsion-system/
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