https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=296&v=boB6qu5dcCw



https://sciencenewsmagazines.com/te...er-solid-state-plane-powered-by-an-ion-drive/

 

Is it so simple that everyone thought of it and dismissed it as useless, or it's so simple no one has though of it before?
I really can't tell.

 

It's been around a long time ... the thrust levels are so ridiculously low it's unusable in aircraft.

 

It's been around a long time ... the thrust levels are so ridiculously low it's unusable in aircraft.

I agree. Complete hype with no hope of having usable thrust for practical use in a earth gravity gaseous environment. It's a inefficient process to direct Kinetic Energy using atomic sized particles from point A to B even in almost perfect vacuum. To deliver ion lift power with the low impulse speeds needed for a practical atmospheric corona ion thruster I would estimate that most of the input power will be wasted in the ionization process as heat.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionocraft#Mechanism

 

What was not apparent in the video but present in similar investigations are the high voltage leads. This thing uses ±20 kv. I did not see a power supply in the images of the aircraft.

 

What was not apparent in the video but present in similar investigations are the high voltage leads. This thing uses ±20 kv. I did not see a power supply in the images of the aircraft.

Wondering what would be the compromise between the weight of an extremely efficient PSU, installed on board, and the possibility of the plane flying.