What this work contributes
NASA describes HERTS laboratory tests intended to measure proton and electron interactions with a charged wire and improve electric-sail models. It explicitly identifies the external solar-wind momentum exchange as the source of proposed thrust, an accessible explanation for a public research atlas.
Where the evidence stops
This is a dated development report, not proof that HERTS completed a flight demonstration or achieved its proposed heliopause transit times.
Original source
NASA. NASA Begins Testing of Revolutionary E-Sail Technology. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (2016).
No DOI listed for this record. Use the original institutional source.
How we use it
This record belongs to Sails & environmental fields. Its evidence label describes the cited work, not the maturity of a Metric Flight device. Follow the original methods, corrections and conditions before transferring a result to a different geometry or scale.
Editorial note reviewed 19 October 2026. AI assisted research discovery and synthesis. Citation metadata and claims were checked against primary publication or institutional records; full-text access varies. Read the source for the complete method.