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Loading contentA family of thrusters that accelerate propellant using electrical energy rather than combustion, reaching exhaust velocities several times higher than chemical rockets. The trade is thrust: forces are gentle — millinewtons to newtons — so electric propulsion excels at station-keeping and patient deep-space cruises, as NASA's Dawn demonstrated in reaching both Vesta and Ceres.
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Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
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