Aerojet Rocketdyne has received a NASA contract to continue work on an electric-propulsion system. The $18 million award from NASA’s Glenn Research Center covers development of the NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster-Commercial (NEXT-C) electric-propulsion system. The contract covers work to complete development of NEXT-C and deliver two complete flight systems to NASA.

Jeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews. He earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science...