NASA Mars breakthrough: How ‘revolutionary rocket’ can conquer Red Planet ‘in two months’

The narrator explained: “Today, Dr Chang-Diaz and his team are testing the engine for the 10,000th time, it’s the result of over 30 years of research, and eight years of operations. 

“When the engineer’s switch the engine on, an unstable gas, argon, is injected into the first chamber. 

“It’s bombarded by radar waves, which rip the electrons off the atoms, turning the argon into plasma, a very high energy particle soup. 

“The plasma is channelled to a second firing, reaching a temperature of millions of degrees and a system of magnets force it out at over 50km/s. 

“With such temperatures, the VASIMR could go faster and further with much less fuel, Dr Chang-Diaz hopes his prototype would get a team to Mars in under two months.”