Humans depend on fossil fuels as their primary energy source, especially in transportation. However, fossil fuels are both unsustainable and unsafe, serving as the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers in China have demonstrated a prototype device that uses microwave air plasmas fo... Read more
MIT engineers have flown the first silent, fuel-free “ion plane.” The light aircraft is the first plane to fly with no propellers, turbine blades, or other moving parts.
Everyone is used to perceiving ion engines as science fiction items. But they have been successfully operating in space for 50 years. So why haven’t they replaced chemical ones yet?
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Ion propulsion can also be a revolutionary technology for powering cargo drones.
Ion propulsion technology, if ever realized, could end the reliance on fossil fuels and transform the travel industry.
Check this out: MIT engineers have already designed and tested an ion propulsion engine on an aircraft!
https://news.mit.edu/2018/first-ionic-wind-plane-no-moving-parts-1121
A wind-powered aircraft
(5 upvotes)Start using ion engines in cars, trains, and airplanes
(6 upvotes)Ion engines are currently used only in space and would be very impractical in earth’s atmosphere.