Regardless, ion propulsion is real and we have it today ... To understand why, you need to know two things: how ion drive works and how the engines differ when using them in an atmosphere.

[Steven Dufresne] recently demonstrated ion propulsion using high voltage, and someone pointed out it kind of looked like the warp drives on the Star Trek Enterprise… so he went out and bought a ...

This innovative propulsion concept was first used in 1998 on NASA’s ... is almost the thrust of a US Delta II rocket. The fuel economy of the ion drive enables Dawn to follow an ambitious trajectory, ...

Hollow cathodes are used as part of both Hall effect and gridded ion thrusters, which are some of the most common forms of electric propulsion in use today. The operation of hollow cathodes, despite ...

Electric propulsion is a more efficient alternative ... all their fuel as quickly as chemical rockets do. Related: How an ion drive helped NASA's Dawn probe visit dwarf planet Ceres The energy ...

Since 2009, the prospects for electric drive vehicles of all stripes looks stronger now than ever before – and no-one is seriously proposing any chemistry other than li-ion for the near-term.

A research team presents an AI assessor for Hall-effect ion thrusters, the engines of satellites and space probes.