An Ion-Powered Plane Has Flown for the First Time

November 22, 2018|FliteTest

What's the future of aircraft propulsion? Well, this team from MIT might have just shown that it's 'ionic wind'.

Ion-power as a means of propelling aircraft, although already used for spacecraft, has never before been successfully demonstrated - that is until now. Recently, a team from MIT successfully flew an ionic model aircraft with zero moving parts.

Note! If you're simply looking for the video of the flight, scroll to the bottom of this article. You're welcome!

The Experiment

Researchers have been investigating the feasibility of building an ion-powered aircraft. They believe this propulsion method could be used for ultra-quiet drones and even hybrid airliners.

They've been carrying out a series of practical experiments with an unmanned RC airplane. They don't have a specialist laboratory or testing grounds, instead, they've been hiring an ordinary gymnasium.

The tests have confirmed that a plane can propel itself with ion-power alone. The airplane only found it's limit when it crashed into the far wall of the gym.

How it works is relatively simple to understand: high powered electrodes are used to ionize the air. The huge voltage across the surface of the electrodes (40,000V) strip negatively-charged electrons from air molecules which are attracted to electrodes at the back of the aircraft. In turn, this sweeps other air molecules along with them producing an 'ionic wind'.

So what is the feasibility of powering airplanes with ion drives in the real world? Clearly, the 197-feet flight of the prototype gymnasium airplane proves there is a great deal of potential in the technology. Yet, it must be remembered that the aircraft in these tests needed a large electrode surface area to produce sufficient thrust for flight. Air density might also be a restrictor to where ion drives like the one tested will work: higher altitudes may hold too few air particles to ionize. Smaller unmanned aircraft flying at low altitudes, therefore, may be the first types to be ion powered.

Video

If you want to see this plane flying for yourself, check out this interview and flight footage. The successful ion-powered flight is quite surreal looking.