Talk about the perfect holiday gift!  The new Hewitt Hyper-Plasma Engine prototype that Dr. Hewitt and her team have been working so diligently on for the last four years has had it’s very first successful test run!

The new test engine was designed by Dr. Elizabeth Hewitt and built by her team at Guanajuato.  Based on existing Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rockets (VASIMR), Hewitt’s design increases the efficiency and maximum output of existing designs ten-fold.  Utilizing an off-the-shelf fusion power source, the Hewitt Hyper-Plasma Engine (HHPE) ionizes hydrogen into plasma then supercharges the resulting plasma into hyper-plasma which is directed out of each engine’s magnetic nozzle and harnessed as thrust.  Superconducting magnets powered by the fusion reactor excite and contain the plasma and hyper-plasma.  Hewitt’s design is expected to have a long list of applications in space travel but may not become an important source of power on Earth since it must operate within a vacuum.

Cheers to the team for reaching this important milestone!