[KevinDavis]

Neat...

[KevinDavis]

[processing please hold]

I watched a show about ion engines last night on the Science channel. It worked.

[Hodar]

I haven't heard that explaination before.

The ion engines I worked on used a strong magnetic field to 'excite' the atoms in the rocket's exhaust. A band of magnet flux was created in the nozzle area. The magnetic flux 'excited' the atom's electrons, causing the electron to jump to the next higher orbital shell; thus making the atoms 'Fatter'. Thus, 'Bigger' atoms were packed tightly against each other created more thrust, while maintaining the same mass.

As the atoms left the influence of the magnetic field, the 'excited' electrons dropped back to their 'normal' orbital shell, and a photon was released; thus the blue light that ion engines create.

[GSlob]

And what do they do with the compensating negative charges? Positive ions are expelled out, but they cannot keep accumulating the electrons in the craft.

[Brett66]

Doing a google search on "Dual-stage Gridded Ion Thruster" revealed the specific performance of these engines. In this article, Advanced Dual-stage Gridded Ion Thruster, they state that a 250kW engine could produce 2.5 Newtons of thrust with a specific impulse of 19,300. Very impressive.

[RayChuang88]

I think what makes ion engines so attractive is that when coupled with a small pebble-bed nuclear reactor, a space vehicle could get a constant low thrust for weeks at a time, which could result in tremendous velocities for the spacecraft. This may make it possible to cut the transit time between Earth and Mars from nine months to six weeks! With only six weeks of transit time, a manned spacecraft flying to Mars could actually be smaller, since we don't need to waste so much space for consumables such as oxygen and water.

[AmericanDave]

Does it clean the air too?

[A CA Guy]

I've seen that somewhere before, but can't quite remember where.

[warpcorebreach]

This stuff is always ten years away. I won't hold my breath.

[meanie monster]

Gosh, I wish I were smarter,,,lol,,,thanks for the ping

[SuziQ]

Ping

[manwiththehands]

"We're givin' ya' all she's got, captain!"

[Wiz]

ping

[gridlock]

Ion propulsion is fine, as long as they don't mess around with that damn Queller Drive...

[colorado tanker]

OK, we've got the impulse drive. Now, about that warp drive . . .

[R. Scott]

Maybe ten years to wait. I'll be pushing 70 then.
Hurry up guys!