A new MIT plane is propelled via ionic wind. Batteries in the fuselage (tan compartment in front of plane) supply voltage to electrodes (blue/white horizontal lines) strung along the length of the plane, generating a wind of ions that propels the plane forward.
Credit: Christine Y. He
The silent, lightweight aircraft doesn’t depend on fossil fuels or batteries. Engineers have built and flown the first-ever plane with no moving parts. Instead of propellers or turbines, the light aircraft is powered by an ‘ionic wind’ – a silent but mighty flow of ions that is produced aboard the plane, and that generates enough thrust to propel the plane over a sustained, steady flight.
Since the first airplane took flight over 100 years ago, virtually every aircraft in the sky has flown with the help of mov...
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