" The New Millennium Program At the beginning of a new millennium, NASA has an ambitious, exciting vision for its space program: To speed up space exploration through the development of highly advanced technology. The New Millennium is one of the many advanced-technology development programs NASA has created to develop and infuse a new generation of technologies and mission concepts into its future missions. The program is unique, however, since it tests its advanced technologies in space flight. Though many space-related technologies can be tested sufficiently in laboratories on Earth, the technologies and concepts NMP selects, such as solar electric (ion) propulsion or spacecraft flying in formation, present a fairly high risk to missions that will use them for the first time. Flight testing in space is also important for some technologies because spacecraft may encounter environments or situations in space that cannot be replicated on the ground: zero gravity, for instance, or environments with appropriate levels of radiation exposure or solar wind. (...) The New Millennium Program is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "

Thermal and Propulsion Engineering JPL's Section 353 : The Manager of the Thermal and Propulsion Engineering Section reports to the Manager of the Mechanical Systems Engineering and Research Division.
The Section's responsibilities center around the development and implementation of propulsion and thermal systems for all JPL spacecraft, instruments, and payloads. In addition, the Section has the responsibility to provide expertise and services in area of contamination control, thermal control technology, analytical chemistry, mechanical testing, and composite fabrication..." more

" The Advanced Propulsion Technology (APT) Because the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a user center of propulsion systems, a program in advanced deep space propulsion is essential at JPL to expedite the adoption of new propulsion technologies. The Advanced Propulsion Technology (APT) Group at JPL performs two principal functions. First, it provides technological expertise for planetary and deep-space robotic mission planners in support of current and near term flight projects. This expertise is geared toward reducing cost and mission time for spacecraft that would otherwise use conventional chemical propulsion systems. Specific examples of recent project support include an 8000 hour endurance test of a Xenon Ion Engine for use on the Deep Space I flight project, launched in October of 1998..." more

" Reaching for the stars Antimatter: (...) It might be the fuel that powers spaceships to the planets and perhaps the stars, even if it's just used as a sophisticated book of matches. Antimatter and more "conventional" nuclear fusion occupied the final day of the 10th annual Advanced Propulsion Research Workshop held Tuesday-Thursday at the University of Alabama in Huntsville by NASA, Marshall, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics..." more
" The ion propulsion system on Deep Space 1 is the culmination of over 50 years of development on electric engine systems in space. Launched on Oct. 24, 1998, Deep Space 1 will be the first spacecraft to actually use ion propulsion to reach another planetary..." more

" In 1996, NASA established the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project to seek the ultimate breakthroughs in space transportation: (1) propulsion that requires no propellant mass, (2) propulsion that attains the maximum transit speeds physically possible, and (3) breakthrough methods of energy production to power such devices. Topics of interest include experiments and theories regarding the coupling of gravity and electromagnetism, the quantum vacuum, hyper fast travel, and super luminal quantum effects. Because the propulsion goals are presumably far from fruition, a special emphasis is to identify affordable, near-term, and credible research that could make measurable progress toward these propulsion goals..." more

"GRC is NASA's lead center for the development of ion propulsion. Our objective is to develop high specific impulse ion propulsion systems and technology as required for NASA missions, and others of national interest, for a broad range of applications and power levels. This program is performed through a combination of In-House work and work performed at universities, industry, and at other NASA facilities..." more