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The NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster project at Glenn Research Center is 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 Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission uses NEXT.
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