NEXT (ion thruster)

The NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) project at Glenn Research Center aims to build an ion thruster about three times as powerful as the NSTAR used on Dawn and Deep Space 1 spacecraft.

NEXT affords larger delivered payloads, smaller launch vehicle size, and other mission enhancements compared to chemical and other electric propulsion technologies for Discovery, New Frontiers, Mars Exploration, and Flagship outer-planet exploration missions.Glenn Research Center manufactured the test engine's core ionization chamber, and Aerojet Rocketdyne designed and built the ion acceleration assembly. The first two flight units will be available in early 2019.

The NEXT engine is a type of solar electric propulsion in which thruster systems use the electricity generated by the spacecraft's solar panel to accelerate the xenon propellant to speeds of up to 90,000 mph (145,000 km/h or 40 km/s). NEXT can produce 6.9 kW thruster power and 236 mN thrust. It can be throttled down to 0.5 kW power, and has a specific impulse of 4190 seconds (compared to 3120 for NSTAR). The NEXT thruster has demonstrated a total impulse of 17 MN·s; which is the highest total impulse ever demonstrated by an ion thruster. A beam extraction area 1.6 times that of NSTAR allows higher thruster input power while maintaining low voltages and ion current densities, thus maintaining thruster longevity.

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