mighty flow of ions that is
partly from the movie and
desktop "lifters" tethered to
produced aboard the plane,
television series, "Star Trek,"
large voltage supplies that
and that generates enough
which he watched avidly as a
create just enough wind for a
thrust to propel the plane over
kid. He was particularly drawn
small craft to hover briefly in
a sustained, steady flight.
to the futuristic shuttlecrafts
the air. It was largely assumed
Unlike
turbine-powered
that
effortlessly
skimmed
that it would be impossible to
planes, the aircraft does not
through the air, with seemingly
produce enough ionic wind to
depend on fossil fuels to fly.
no moving parts and hardly
propel a larger aircraft over a
And unlike propeller-driven
any noise or exhaust.
sustained flight.
drones, the new design is
"This made me think, in the
"It was a sleepless night in a
completely silent.
long-term
future,
planes
hotel when I was jet-lagged,
"This is the first-ever sustained
shouldn't
have
propellers
and I was thinking about this
flight of a plane with no moving
and turbines," Barrett says.
and started searching for
parts in the propulsion system,"
"They should be more like
ways it could be done," he
says Steven Barrett, associate
the shuttles in 'Star Trek,' that
recalls. "I did some back-of-
professor of aeronautics and
have just a blue glow and
the-envelope
calculations
astronautics at MIT. "This
silently glide."
and found that, yes, it might
has potentially opened new
About nine years ago, Barrett
become a viable propulsion
and unexplored possibilities
started looking for ways to
system," Barrett says. "And
for aircraft which are quieter,
design a propulsion system for
it turned out it needed many
mechanically simpler, and
planes with no moving parts.
years of work to get from that
do not emit combustion
He eventually came upon
to a first test flight."
emissions."
"ionic wind," also known as
Ions take flight
He expects that in the near-
electroaerodynamic thrust --
The team's final design
term, such ion wind propulsion
a physical principle that was
resembles a large, lightweight
systems could be used to fly
first identified in the 1920s and
glider. The aircraft, which
less noisy drones. Further out,
describes a wind, or thrust,
weighs about 5 pounds and
he envisions ion propulsion
that can be produced when a
has a 5-meter wingspan,
paired with more conventional
current is passed between a
carries an array of thin wires,
combustion systems to create
thin and a thick electrode. If
which are strung like horizontal
more
fuel-efficient,
hybrid
enough voltage is applied, the
fencing along and beneath the
passenger planes and other
air in between the electrodes
front end of the plane's wing.
large aircraft.
can produce enough thrust to
The wires act as positively
Barrett and his team at MIT
propel a small aircraft.
charged electrodes, while
have published their results in
For years, electroaerodynamic
similarly
arranged
thicker
the journal Nature.
thrust
has
mostly
been
wires, running along the back
Hobby crafts
a hobbyist's project, and
end of the plane's wing, serve
Barrett says the inspiration for
designs have for the most
as negative electrodes.
the team's ion plane comes
part been limited to small,
The fuselage of the plane
Articles & Research
33

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