#deep space 1

[gemini-enthusiast]

The ion engine of Deep Space 1, tested in the vacuum chamber of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

[spium]

so i was studying physics fot my finals and then this... they named a rocket "Deep Rocket 1" Deep Rocket 1™

[supplyside]

NASA's 2.3 kW NSTAR ion thruster for the Deep Space 1 spacecraft during a hot fire test at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

[wasabimoto]

Nasa's Xenon Ion Drive engine. Designed to propel spacecraft on deep space missions, it fires a beam of energetic xenon ions. Relatively small amounts of ions are ejected, but at very high speeds. The Deep Space 1 probe shoots ions out at 146 000 kilometers per hour (more than 88 000 mph).

SCIENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pappubahry]

Comet Borrelly, photographed by Deep Space 1, 22 September 2001.  The images have been sharpened a little.

[wenth]

Ion Engine Test Firing

This image of a xenon ion engine, photographed through a port of the vacuum chamber where it was being tested at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, shows the faint blue glow of charged atoms being emitted from the engine. The ion propulsion engine is the first non-chemical propulsion to be used as the primary means of propelling a spacecraft. Deep Space 1 was launched in October 1998.

Source: GRIN

[spacettf]

2010 Asteroids and Comets Size Comparison by Lunar and Planetary Institute on Flickr.

Via Flickr: The total of six comets and nine asteroid systems (including ten separate bodies) that have been examined up close by spacecraft are shown here to scale with each other. Most of these were visited only briefly, in flyby missions, so we have only one point of view on each; only Eros and Itokawa were orbited and mapped completely. The most recent image in this montage was taken by Deep Impact during the November 4, 2010 flyby of the 103P/Hartley2 comet.