Target:
Mission: Deep Space 1 (DS1)
Spacecraft: Deep Space 1
Instrument:
Size: 1897 x 1915
ID#: PIA04238
Added: 2002-12-21
Views: 246
Deep Space 1's Ion Engine
This image of a xenon ion engine prototype, 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.
Kennedy Space Center, Florida. - Deep Space 1 is lifted from its work platform, giving a closeup view of the experimental solar-powered ion propulsion engine.
A composite of images from NASA's Deep Space 1 spacecraft shows features of comet Borrelly's nucleus, dust jets escaping the nucleus and the cloud-like 'coma' of dust and gases surrounding the nucleus.
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.