I read recently about an airplane that is powered by ion flow which apparently creates a forward thrust airflow which creates lift in the wings.
https://www.unilad.co.uk/technology/scientists-have-created-a-plane-that-flies-using-ion-thrusters-and-no-fuel/
No moving parts involved, no fuel, no propeller, no engine.
It is fueled by ions pulled from nitrogen in air .
This technology is confusing to me as I am a non-scientist. Although I am 5 I have the intellectual prowess of a 12 year old.
Is this thrust generation analogous to those old Sharper Image Ionic Breeze air filters which created a small air flow without any moving parts?
And I assume although there is no fuel there must be A battery or solar cell to create electric current?
In: Technology
There are batteries, lots of them, to generate thousands of volts difference between electrodes along the wings. It just doesn’t use fossil fuel onboard. Ionizing the air at the front and attracting the charged ions backwards creates a flow of air going to the rear that pushes the plane forwards.
https://news.mit.edu/2018/first-ionic-wind-plane-no-moving-parts-1121
As it comes from MIT and been published in Nature, a prestigious scientific journal, one can presume its kosher.
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