Electric and Ion Propulsion: Igniting a New Space Race for Mars, Mercury, and Beyond

Introduction: From Explosive Thrust to Persistent Power For over six decades, space power projection has been defined by the brute force of chemical propulsion—high thrust, short duration, and massive propellant dependency. That paradigm is now being structurally disrupted. A new propulsion architecture—electric and ion propulsion—is shifting the center of gravity in space operations from force…