A New Frontier The USS Independence nears its final destination Mars as the planet begins to loom in the foreground. The journey has taken a little over 3 months to complete from earth. The ship is being powered by a new propulsion system Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR), and has cut the travel time by more than 5 months. The VASIMR engine consists of three linked magnetic cells. The forward cell handles the main injection of propellant gas and its ionization. The central cell acts as an amplifier to further heat the plasma. The aft cell is a magnetic nozzle, which converts the energy of the fluid into directed flow. Neutral gas, typically hydrogen, is injected at the forward cell and ionized. The resulting plasma is electromagnetically energized in the central cell by ion cyclotron resonance heating. In this process radio waves give their energy to the plasma, heating it in a manner similar to the way a microwave oven works. After heating, the plasma is magnetically exhausted at the aft cell to provide modulated thrust. The aft cell is a magnetic nozzle, which converts the energy of the plasma into velocity of the jet exhaust, while protecting any nearby structure and ensuring efficient plasma detachment from the magnetic field. A key to the technology is the capability to vary, or modulate, the plasma exhaust to maintain optimal propulsive efficiency. This information was ascertained from Johnson's Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory. The laboratory director is Franklin Chang-Diaz, a NASA astronaut who holds a doctorate in applied plasma physics and fusion technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. As you can see the more I read the more my concepts changes, I hope everyone doesn