http://honisoit.com/2015/09/university-of-sydney-student-smashes-nasa-record-for-fuel-efficiency-mars-and-back-on-a-tank-of-fuel/University of Sydney doctoral candidate in Physics, Paddy Neumann, has developed a new kind of ion space drive that has smashed the current record for fuel efficiency held by NASA. The current record, held by NASA’s HiPEP system, allows 9600 (+/- 200) seconds of specific impulse. However, results recorded by the Neumann Drive have been as high as 14,690 (+/- 2000), with even conservative results performing well above NASA’s best. That means this drive is using fuel far more efficiently, allowing for it to operate for longer. Furthermore NASA’s HiPEP runs on Xenon gas, while the Neumann Drive can be powered on a number of different metals, the most efficient tested so far being magnesium.
