[Brett66]

This new class of NEP thrusters will offer substantial performance advantages over the ion engine flown on Deep Space 1 in 1999. Overall improvements include up to a factor of 10 or more in power; a factor of two to three in fuel efficiency; a factor of four to five in grid voltage; a factor of five to eight in thruster lifetime; and a 30 percent improvement in overall thruster efficiency.

Ok, I'm impressed.

[Terpfen]

... Ion engine?

Millennium Falcon, right around the corner.

[tubebender]

Do you want to ping the "list"...

[commish]

exhaust velocities from 60,000 to 80,000 meters per second

Wow. That translates to 3750 to 5000 Miles per second, or a speed of 13.5 to 18 MILLION Miles per hour.

Or 2.7% of the speed of light -- warp factor .027 Scotty. Hmm Impulse power maybe

[Kirkwood]

Hey! Wait a minute. Ion engines?! Aren't we supposed to be 40 years behind the Chinese in space technology? Why I heard they are going to put a man on the moon in our lifetime! Zowie!

[xp38]

The Empire has a penchant for these.

[Steely Tom]

Bears a spooky resemblance to the exhaust ports on the spaceship Discovery depicted so beautifully in the Kubrick's 2001

. (steely)

[StriperSniper]

BTTT

[Bogey78O]

Well we'll need a workhorse if ever we want to get to mars.

[Silvermont]

....pair of rectangular grids that are charged with 6,000 volts...

Yes...but then you will need a 5 story building size electric power plant to provide the volts. Just kidding.

[Blue Scourge]

where do I sign up to get one of those installed on my 4-wheeler?

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Hopefully this works better than the engine on Deep Space 1.

[traumer]

Just don't give it to China...
Geeez.

[mhking]

[KevinDavis]

Space Ping! This is the space ping list! Let me know if you want on or off this list!