Shooting Ions to get to Ceres

NASA's Dawn spacecraft will make history Friday March 6, 2015 when it gets pulled into the orbit of the dwarf planet Ceres.  This craft will be the first to orbit two different extraterrestrial bodies and the first to orbit a dwarf planet.  The best part about this is what is powering Dawn on this journey.  Dawn is being powered by 3 Ion engines.  These engines do not expel gas like most engines but shoot out ions.  The engines work by ionizing xenon atoms and then accelerating the ions out the back of the spacecraft using a large voltage.  To get a more in-depth explanation of this process visit http://www.space.com/28732-nasa-dawn-spacecraft-ion-propulsion.html and watch both the videos on the page.  As explained in the videos these engines do not provide must trust but over time their push just keeps adding up and it allows the craft to reach very high velocities. The engines also allow the craft to more easily get into the orbit of other celestial bodies.  A final advantage of the ion engine allows Dawn to be able to orbit Ceres for a while and then fire up its engines and take off toward another planet.  The only downfall to these engines is that in the beginning of a trip they cause the craft to travel quite slowly.  Hopefully, however with more use and more research into these cheap and safe engines they will be powering the rockets of tomorrow.

This illustration depicts NASA's Dawn spacecraft arriving at the dwarf planet Ceres (lower right). Image released March 2, 2015. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech