Methods and apparatuses for augmenting thrusts using ionized gases. A gas is partially ionized, which then ionizes a second, neutral gas. Vector addition can be used to increase the velocity of the first ionized gas with relatively high efficiency due to the gyroradii of the ionized particles. If the velocity is sufficiently high the critical ionization velocity of at least some of the elements in the second gas will be exceeded, greatly increasing A magnetic field creates a Townsend cascade in the ionized gases, greatly increasing the amount of ionized gases. The magnetic field can be created using permanent magnets or superconductors, thereby requiring little or no power to operate. To produce thrust the ionized gases are accelerated through a coil, which can have logarithmically increasing coil spacings. Electrical power can be generated by passing the accelerated ionized gas through generating coils and/or a turbine. In another embodiment, electromagnetic forces in the atmosphere can be used to propel a vehicle that has parallel superconducting coils circumferentially disposed about an axis of travel of the vehicle, the coils comprising one or more moveable segments which are reversibly disconnectable from other segments in said coil, thereby allowing the polarity of the coil to be reversed. The ionization engines described above can be used to further accelerate or decelerate the vehicle.
Thrust Augmentation Systems
2016-03-24
Patent
Electronic Resource
English
IPC: | B64G Raumfahrt , COSMONAUTICS |
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