perfidy

Via Geekpress, I see that NASA has produced a project of worth that is neither mock-worthy or eyerollingly useless and expensive. And no, I'm not talking about freeze-dried ice cream or powder-blue velcro-clasped jumpsuits.

Check it out: a working ion-propulsion engine! The prototype was produced at Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, a facility I toured repeatedly as a child. The engine is destined for use in the Prometheus Project, which is an ill-starred mission to Jupiter that will never happen in my lifetime as long as NASA is in charge. In the long term, NASA intends ion engines for use in any missions that can't rely on using planetary gravity wells as slingshots for long-distance propulsion, which is most of them. Good plan, hope it works.

At long last mankind will be ready when the Zentraedi, Gamilon, or Moties come for our women and mead. Can a giant ion railgun, huge transforming vehicles, and space cruisers that resemble Japanese WWII battleships really be far behind??

[wik] Special props to me for knowing how to spell Zentraedi without looking it up first. Not only am I in touch with my inner Geek, my Geek is in the drivers' seat, with a 20-sided keychain and a Macross decal on the window, doing Möbius donuts on your lawn.