NextSTEP...

This diagram details how the VASIMR plasma rocket works.
Credit: Ad Astra Rocket Company © all rights reserved

Topics: Diversity, Diversity in Science, Hispanic Americans, Latino Americans, Mars, NASA, Space Exploration, Spaceflight

Note to a certain presidential candidate: Isn't it ironic our journey to Mars will have been engineered by a Hispanic/Latino immigrant (see #P4TC link below)?

A potential advancement in the United States' electric propulsion capability for the future of spaceflight is being underscored by a new NASA contract to support work on the VASIMR project – short for the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket.

VASIMR works with plasma, an electrically charged gas that can be heated to extreme temperatures by radio waves and controlled and guided by strong magnetic fields.

Ad Astra Rocket Company announced today that it has completed contract negotiations with NASA on the group's Next Space Technology Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) award and are now entering the execution phase of the project. [How to Launch Superfast Trips to Mars]

Space.com: Plasma Rocket Technology Receives NASA Funding Boost, Leonard David
#P4TC: Dr. Franklin Ramón Chang Díaz...