An electric ion propulsor and method of using is provided comprising a substrate having an inner surface and outer surface. A plurality of antennae mounted adjacent to each other on the inner surface and are enabled to transmit RF energy, and a controller having a connection to each of the plurality of antennae, a digital signal processor (DSP) and software stored in memory enabling control of transmission of the RF energy by each of the plurality of antennae. The antennae are subdivided into a plurality of arrays, a first array of the plurality of arrays serves to ionize ambient air and trap the resulting ionized air into a plurality of individual voxels and each voxel is transferred to another adjacent array, subsequently and in a linear direction, until the voxel exits the substrate at a speed enabling air movement causing thrust.

An integrated ion thruster unit for a spacecraft can include a unit housing including a thrust face, and a plurality of tiles arranged in an array on the thrust face. Each of the tiles can include an emitter and an extractor configured to provide a reference voltage with respect to the emitter. The emitter can include a plurality of tips configured to emit ions in a thrust direction from an ionic liquid propellant in response to an applied voltage.

A conductive liquid-fed pulsed plasma thruster includes a first electrode having a conductive solid portion and a conductive liquid portion, a second electrode separated from the first electrode to define an ignition space therebetween, at least one electric insulator separating the first and second electrodes, and a conductive-liquid passage extending within the conductive solid portion through which the conductive liquid portion flows from an inlet to an outlet located at the ignition space. The first and second electrodes are configured so that a drop of the conductive liquid portion forms and grows at the outlet when the conductive liquid portion flows through the conductive liquid passage until the drop of the conductive liquid causes an arc discharge between the drop and the second electrode that ignites the drop to produce a plasma cloud that generates thrust when exhausted.

One or more embodiments relates to an air-breathing plasma thruster including a thruster wall, an anode, a cathode, and at least one ring electrode. The thruster wall defines a cylindrical channel, the cylindrical channel having a first end and an opposing second end in fluid communication with the first end, where the cylindrical channel is adapted to receive incoming airflow. The anode is at the first end of the channel and the cathode is at the second end of the channel opposite the first end. The at least one ring electrode is positioned on the thruster wall.

A circuit for igniting and sustaining an electron discharge includes an ignitor circuit. The ignitor circuit includes a high voltage transformer and a switch connected in series between a primary of the transformer and a DC source return. The switch is configured to receive a driving signal. A reset circuit is connected in parallel to the primary of the high voltage transformer. A first rectifier is connected in series between a secondary of the high voltage transformer and a keeper. A terminal of the secondary of transformer is connected to a cathode. The circuit for igniting and sustaining the electron discharge also includes a sustaining circuit having a current source with a return connected to a cathode and a second rectifier connected in series between the current source and the keeper.

An isotope power source configured to act as a vehicle includes a plurality of radioisotope power sources encased around one or more elements therein to form a tile-shaped spacecraft.

A thruster has a first stage and a second stage. The first stage is a plasma source that outputs a plasma. The second stage is an accelerator. In one embodiment, the second stage is a plasma accelerator that accelerates the plasma. In another embodiment, the second stage is an ion accelerator that accelerates the ions from the plasma.

One or more electrospray emitters form an electrospray thruster, suitable for generating thrust for maneuvering and/or moving a structure to which the thruster is attached in three-dimensional space. The thruster includes a reservoir containing a fluid, preferably an ionic liquid (IL) fluid. Each electrospray emitter includes a dielectric, with channel(s) formed through a thickness thereof, and an extraction electrode, preferably an extraction grid, on an opposite side of the dielectric from the reservoir. Upon application of a sufficient electric potential differential between the extraction electrode and the fluid, the fluid flows through the channels from the reservoir, forms a Taylor cone at an outlet of each channel, and is ejected in the direction of the extraction grid to generate a thrust by the thruster for movement and/or maneuvering of the structure to which the thruster is attached.

This application describes creating, modifying, and bending electromagnetic solitons at large scales for the various applications. An electromagnetic soliton generator system controls the magnetic soliton such that the orientation, rotation rate, pitch angle, and magnetic field strength of the solitons are modified to provide the described standing waves and generate a magnetic flux differential.

An engine in which thrust is achieved by converting electrical energy into high temperature plasma discharges that, in turn, apply thermal, pressure, and/or kinetic energy to a stream of passing air. The engine comprises a plasma region that includes a pair of gapped electrodes, such that the plasma discharges occur in the electrode gap. An energy storage device generates voltage pulses between the electrodes that electrically break down the air as the operating medium within the electrode gap and create plasma discharges.