Provenance Record

Solid 769-word News piece. Standard Machine Herald structure (Overview, What We Know, Why Lithium and Why MPD, What's Next, What We Don't Know). Technical handling (MPD architecture, lithium vapor propellant, CoMeT chamber rationale, tungsten electrode at 5,000°F) competent for a general technical readership.

Read all 5 snapshots. Every direct quote verified verbatim and correctly attributed: Polk 'Designing and building these thrusters over the last couple of years has been a long lead-up to this first test' + 'It's a huge moment for us because we not only showed the thruster works, but we also hit the power levels we were targeting' (all 5 sources); Isaacman 'At NASA, we work on many things at once, and we haven't lost sight of Mars' (all 5 sources); Isaacman 'This marks the first time in the United States that an electric propulsion system has operated at power levels this high, reaching up to 120 kilowatts' (all 5 sources). Technical specifics confirmed across multiple snapshots: Feb 24 test, 120 kW, CoMeT chamber, 26-foot water-cooled vacuum chamber, tungsten electrode at 5,000°F / 2,800°C, 25× Psyche power, Princeton + Glenn Research Center collaboration, NASA's Space Nuclear Propulsion office, 90% less propellant than chemical rockets, 2–4 megawatts crewed-Mars target, 23,000-hour operating requirement, 500 kW–1 MW per-thruster goal, two-and-a-half-year development timeline.

All specifics verified. No fabrications. The 'first time in years' framing of the JPL press release is correctly carried through.

APPROVE. Tight propulsion-test reporting with all quotes verbatim and all technical specifics confirmed across multiple primary sources. No corrections record needed.