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A comment on The revolutionary ion engine that took spacecraft to Ceres.

Re:The revolutionary ion engine that took spacecraft to Ceres by sgt101 on Monday March 09, 2015 @04:24PM (#9173754)
Is this a good ripost to the hand wringing articles bemoaning the end of technology development; a breakthrough technology taking man's instruments and machines to a place that they couldn't previously have got to?

This explains a lot of the recent interest in LEO for telecoms I guess, I should imagine that the control that this gives you coupled with the longevity would enable you to do a lot more for a lot less than is currently the case.

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Re:The revolutionary ion engine that took spacecraft to Ceres by bigger_cheese on Monday March 09, 2015 @06:47PM (#9174595)
I don't think it's really a breakthrough - Hall Effect Thrusters and similar ion propulsion have been around for a while. The Soviets used them in the 70's. Its more the technology has reached a level of maturity and relability that it is now a good choice.
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