Plasma Jets May One Day Propel Aircraft

Jet planes may well just one working day fly without the need of fossil fuels by working with plasma jets, new investigate from scientists in China indicates.

A variety of spacecraft, this sort of as NASA’s Dawn space probe, generate plasma from gases this sort of as xenon for propulsion. Having said that, this sort of thrusters exert only small propulsive forces, and so can discover use only in outer space, in the absence of air friction.

Now scientists have established a prototype thruster able of generating plasma jets with propulsive forces comparable to individuals from conventional jet engines, working with only air and electrical energy.