This Thruster can Propel a Spacecraft Almost Indefinitely

Ion thrusters create small thrust levels in comparison to conventional chemical rockets, but achieve high specific impulse. They could be practical in the vacuum of space.

SPACE'S DEEPEST SECRETS
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[Retronyx]

the thruster really does look like those future type of booster we imagine. wow I'm actually excited to see how will it look like on the real spacecraft

[cjgoth]

Wow, a grid free ion drive. Half a lifetime ago I worked on the UK10 and the major problem we had was erosion of the molybdenum grids. Even the slightest misalignment of the grids would mean that the plasma would tear into the metal, and even moly couldn't stand too much Xenon impacting it at 10 km/s. We had a joint project with the USAF in around 92, 93. Glad to see that it looks like the Yanks have taken the technology further than we did.

[dabeefemus]

Two ion's walking down the street. One says "I've got a charge!" Other one says "you sure?" First ion says "I'm positive!" 😋

[PorcuPineAppleSauce]

Space engineers has taught me that I'm gonna need a lot of these and once I have em I can never look back

[deft_illust]

Amazing how this technology is now being used in SpaceX's Starlink project

[patrice]

ok how much ? give us some numbers ! is it 10x more efficient or 10000x ... how do you define effectiveness final speed / fuel mass ?

[Nemoticon]

This is basically like powering a sale ship with a handheld fan. It works... all you need is a million years to get anywhere!

[Vekrixt]

You'd still need the normal rockets we use today to get us off the ground and into space though. As the narrator said, ion propulsion is 'less powerful than a rocket' so it probably couldn't replace the jet fuel and rocket for initial launch. It only works at high speeds once you get into space, free of gravity.

[JorgeNeves]

One day in the future, children will watch this documentary, on the moon, and in mars, and even on spaceships traveling with powerful ion engines

[mutexnet]

This vid made me smile - great work being done. Thanks for posting.

[suyashneelambugg]

Amazing clarity and presentation.

Cheers!!

[OfMiceAndMegabytes]

Like seeing the internet demonstrated in the 40s this is waaay ahead of its time.

[Rimzler]

It looks so clean and futuristic tho! Like some iron man kinda stuff!

[ArranHS]

So I can basically have one of those Naboo Starfighter from StarWars now?

[charlesbrightman]

Electromagnetically sourced, magnetic pulse engines would also work in space. While not all matter is considered magnetic, all matter can be affected by magnetism due to the magnetic fields of the charged particles in the atoms and molecules. EMR energy is basically everywhere in the universe so there would be basically an endless fuel supply. The magnetic field generated would push against the atoms and molecules of the ship itself thereby thrusting it in that direction.

[yakuza_toast]

Just miniaturize this and place it in your palm, you're now ironman

[IatAS]

this is just the beginning dude! i see the future and its awesome! :D

[DarkHorizons]

Love Ion drives so pretty, cant wait to meet its more powerful cousin one day (i say this in a very loose term), what is the next big thing in space propulsion and have they figured out a drive that is more fuel efficient for terrestrial to space take off?

[kasarara]

All i hope is to have enough time to see Star Trek in real life once day

[equation]

0:18 i have literally sat in that seat right above that black box thing in the cinema