NASA Just Released Their New Indefinite Propulsion System- The Ion Thruster

NASA Just Released Their New Indefinite Propulsion System- The Ion Thruster | World War Wings Videos

Science Channel / YouTube

Next Stop, Mars.

Here at World War Wings we love our vintage warbirds, but as a general rule, we love aviation. Stepping that up a bit further, we’re just fascinated by flight even when it takes place, well, in space.

NASA has been working on the project for years now but recently they’ve hit some major record-breaking milestones. The whole idea behind the X3 thruster is to get rid rockets which have been doing their job but are extremely wasteful and have a very limited output. With these Hall thrusters as they’re called, you can create almost indefinite propulsion by expelling plasma, not flames, gas and heat.

ecent X3 testest broke records for the maximum power output, thrust and operating current.

To make things easier to understand, think of any sci-fi movie with spaceships in it. From Bladerunner to Star Trek, all those vehicles emit this “force” with a blue light and that allows them to fly. This is basically the same concept, except in practice. Within a few years, this technology could be fully implemented and send humans to Mars at little expense when it comes to fuel.

We’re not going to explain how all this works because we’re honestly not smart enough. The video we found below will do a better job of that. Check it out and let a NASA scientist give you the “common folk” explanation as to how this thing works and what it means for the future.

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