Australia's Plasma Thruster Could Get a Space Trial as Soon as 2013

This would not be the first deep space fairing spacecraft propelled by "plasma engine". There have been many.

Refer to "Ion Propulsion" on wikipedia. Better yet take a look at the Deep Space 1 probe. It was powered by an xenon ion thruster called NSTAR and it flew in the late 90s.

Get with the times popsci.

@rocketDude Ion and plasma engines are categorized as different propulsion methods, as the ion engine emits electrons for propulsion, whereas a plasma engine emits plasma.

Oh ho-ho you got plasma burned rocketdude!

Oh dont roget get about VASIMIR that is thus far my favorite..... mars in 39 days ;-)

@Gyllivon.... No engine emits electron for propulsion. They do not have sufficient mass to impart any impulse. Ion engines are a broader category of electric propulsion systems. The gridded ion thruster is what is normally referred to as an ion thruster. These use a cathode to emit electrons into the chamber, Through the use of magnetic fields, these elctrons are contained and collided with an inert gas like Xenon or Krypton that is injected from behind the cathode. The electrons ionize the gas, creating a plasma that can be controlled by the elstric and magnetic fields. The positive ions are accelerated across two closely spaced grids at vastly different elctric potentials creating a strong electric field. The positive ions are neutralized by an additional cathode outside the engine that injects electrons into the exhaust plume with the sole intention of neutralizing the positive charge so it doesn't get pulled back to the engine, cancelling out the impulse it initially recieved. Booyakasha!

Also, hall effect thrusters could be considered plasma thrusters, and these have been used for decades as well, originating in the 50s and earlier. They exploit the difference in the electron gyro frequency and the ion gyro freq to circulate electrons in an annular channel, thus ionizing the injected gas and accelerating it with an electric field.

It's not rocket science!

Oh wait...

It would be much better if it could be relativistic instead of expelling-mass propulsion. www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgAwyr5Udzw

You feel that gyllivon? That's you're skin being ionized by rocketboy's mumbo jumbo which I'm sure he copy and pasted...and most likely stayed up all night to redeem himself on a comment board...I bet you feel like a loser now...

Oh wait...

monsterboy, take a look at your own comments.

You made an account just to say that?

Talk about wasting your time!

Don't speak if you have nothing to say.

You're terrible. Take a lap

Ans if you must know.....

I happen to be a systems engineer for a major american rocket company. I've also studied all sorts of propulsion systems for my masters in aerospace engineering in the middle 2000s. Gas-turbines, solid/hybrid rockets, liquid rockets, as well as electric propulsion systems... resistojets, arcjets, pulsed-plasma jets, magnetohyrodynamic devices(MHDs), hall-effect thrusters, gridded ion thrusters, radio-thermal generators(RTGs). Even advanced systems like the fusion jet or VASIMR.

And I wrote this faster than you can probably read it.

Ion and plasma engines are great but even they still require fuel.
I think there maybe a better solution:
Space already contains ions and lots of charged particles constantly moving around. It maybe possible to create a special electric and/or magnetic field around a space vehicle that applies a force on that charged ions/particles to push them toward rear of the vehicle. If that can be done it would produce a forward force on the vehicle.

That type of drive would require only electricity which can be produced from a nuclear (decay) generator.

@rocketdude: you had to go with the name that is most stereotypical for a rocket engineer. You can figure out rocket science but couldn't find an original name.... great no wonder all our spaceships have such lousy names.

@monsterboy: your name makes you sound like you're from the Pokemon generation.

See what I did there? Yes? Good, I'll say it anyways. I gave you a common enemy so now you can both get along and I snuck in a couple of bad jokes. We all win!

@rocketdude

Academic question: While mechanically different, are not ionic and plasma propulsion fudamentally the same?

I ask because I've read that Plasma is a matter state of highly ionized gas.

I have invented also a much more effective propulsion system. It's an electric mechanical engine, which means it converts electricity directly into mechanical force instead of using fuel. It's a novel concept and it's hard to explain how it works and creates thrust because some people (as I expected) told me it violates conservation of momentum. In theory yes but in practice I don't think so. I hope I will have a prototype of it fabricated and put to test soon. You may check it out on my website:

www.hosseinnabipour.ca

-Hossein Nabipour, inventor of the first practical interstellar propulsion engine