The new US rocket will fly for 5 years continuously

The US Aerospace Agency (NASA) has built a special type of engine, allowing missiles to fly continuously for more than 48,000 hours.

Making engines capable of continuous operation for several years is one of the goals of Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (EXT) - a project that NASA is working on. NASA tested their new rocket engine 5.5 years ago (equivalent to more than 48,000 hours) and it still works today, Space reported. This is the longest active rocket engine in human history.

NASA's ion-propulsion motor operates continuously for more than 48,000 hours.(Photo: NASA)

NASA products are ion propulsion engines . It is capable of generating electricity from sunlight. The current helps it to release xenon ions to create thrust. Its ion discharge rate is up to 144,000 km / h. This is one of the types of engines that humans can use in space.

Although the new propulsion is on record of uptime, the project management still decided to stop testing it.

"We will turn off the engine at the end of June. Its capabilities and operating times exceed all requirements for future space flights , " said Michael Patterson, a project researcher. stated.

The advent of the new engine will help NASA make the dream of flying to distant planets come true. For example, with current rocket technology, people need more than 500 days to fly to Mars. That time period will increase many times for more distant planets.