The first aeroplane propelled by ionic wind

Researchers used high-voltage electrodes to ionize air and accelerate it, the resulting ionic wind produces a thrust force in the opposite direction to ion flow. In the future, the “ion drive“ concept could be used to power cleaner and quieter aeroplanes. Credits: Research: Flight of an aeroplane with solid-state propulsion Haofeng Xu, Yiou He, Kieran L. Strobel, Christopher K. Gilmore, Sean P. Kelley, Cooper C. Hennick, Thomas Sebastian, Mark R. Woolston, David J. Perreault & Steven R. H. Barrett Nature,