Embed Notice

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/
1/n