MIT Flies Model Airplane Powered by the Blue Glow of Electric Fields and Ionic Winds
The model plane, with no moving parts, could pave the way for new flight technology that emits no pollutants
smithsonian.com
November 21, 2018
Since their invention more than 100 years ago, airplanes have been moved through the air by the spinning surfaces of propellers or turbines. But watching science fiction movies like the “Star Wars,†“Star Trek†and “Back to the Future†series, I imagined that the propulsion systems of the future would be silent and still – maybe with some kind of blue glow and “whoosh†noise, but no moving parts, and no stream of pollution pouring out the back.
That doesn’t exist yet, but there is at least one physical principle that could be promising. About nine years ago, I started investigating using ionic winds – flows of charged particles through the air – as a means of powering flight. Building on decades of research and experimentation by academics and hobbyists, professionals and high school science students, my research group recently flew a nearly silent airplane without any moving parts.
The plane weighed about five pounds (2.45 kilograms) and had a wingspan of 15 feet (5 meters), and traveled about 180 feet (60 meters), so it’s a long way from efficiently carrying cargo or people long distances. But we have proved that it is possible to fly a heavier-than-air vehicle using ionic winds. It even has a glow you can see in the dark.
Read more:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/mit-flies-model-airplane-powered-electric-fields-and-ionic-winds-180970877/#kKrs6oawlGrxKBKT.99
