Imagine reaching the Moon using just a tenth of a liter of fuel. With their ionic motor, MicroThrust, EPFL scientists and their European partners are making this a reality, ushering in a new era of low-cost space exploration.
Watch EPFL – A Couple Drops of Fuel to Get to the Moon with MicroThrust
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJlSI_l5g4M]
The goal is to provide efficient propulsion systems for nanosatellites (1-100 kg), which are currently stuck in whatever orbit they were initially placed: the plan is to free them to allow nanosatellites to perform orbital maneuvering, and missions to the Moon, to Near Earth Objects, or even to Mars.
Read Micromachined Propulsion systems for very small satellites http://lmts.epfl.ch/microthrust