Designs for a device called a microwave thruster, which could power spacecraft without the need for propellant, have been proposed since 2006. While the engine follows the principles of relativity theory in converting electrical energy into force to produce thrust, it has been dismissed as impossible in practice since it defies the law of conservation of momentum. But a team from NASA has just successfully trialled their own version of the engine, which changes everything.
The asteroid zoomed by Earth at a perfectly safe distance of around 1.8 million miles (2.9 kilometers).
Engineers expect to lose contact with the private US moon lander Odysseus on Tuesday, cutting short the mission after its sideways touchdown last week.
NASA announced Tuesday that a $32.7 million Capstone spacecraft intended to try out a skewed lunar orbit had lost contact, but agency engineers are confident
