thruster

noun

thrust·er | \ ˈthrə-stər

variants: or less commonly thrustor

Definition of thruster

: one that thrusts especially : an engine (such as a jet engine) that develops thrust by expelling a jet of fluid or a stream of particles

Examples of thruster in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

About a mile above Mars, InSight will let go of the parachute and turn on some thrusters. — Brian Resnick, Vox, "NASA is landing on Mars for the first time since 2012. You can watch!," 23 Nov. 2018 Since the last mission to Tiangong-1 in 2013, China continued to monitor the space station and adjust its orbits with onboard thrusters. — Jay Bennett, Popular Mechanics, "Chinese Space Station Tiangong-1 Burns Up Over the Pacific Ocean," 2 Apr. 2018 Dumbbell thruster Skater hop Lateral to forward raise Rest 1 minute. — Amy Marturana, SELF, "25-Minute Total-Body Dumbbell Workout," 8 Mar. 2019 The flight route, zipping past the moon as closely as possible and turning around to do it again, requires many thruster burns at precise times. — Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, "5 Things We Learned From SpaceX's Moon Tourist Announcement," 18 Sep. 2018 But first, a Phase Four thruster has to make it into space. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "Plasma Thrusters Are About To Have Their Moment," 30 Aug. 2018 That’s when the spacecraft thrusters rapidly push it away from the rocket at the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure. — Eric Berger, Ars Technica, "Here’s what SpaceX must do to win the commercial crew race," 8 Aug. 2018 Engineers had to add thrusters to ensure that the lander would touch down gently. — Loren Grush, The Verge, "NASA’s InSight lander has just six and a half minutes to land on Mars in one piece," 21 Nov. 2018 Early in the mission the spacecraft’s reaction wheels broke, which meant the only way Dawn could maneuver was by using its thrusters and propellant. — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "NASA's Asteroid Belt Spacecraft Dawn Is About To Run Out of Fuel," 11 Sep. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'thruster.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.