this post was submitted on 05 May 2026
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Ion thrusters are an example of electricity used for space propulsion.
In ion thrusters electricity is used to create a magnetic field that accelerate the propellant particles at very high speed. This way the propellant of used much more efficiently.
Edit: I forgot to mention that it's not a concept, it's actively used in a lot of satellites
So skimming through the wiki article, it sounds like it it's still "throw something out the back" to generate thrust, which is largely the same problem as the Wall-E with a fire extinguisher problem another commenter made.
Ion Thrusters sound significantly more efficient (in terms of velocity change vs fuel), but do I have the right idea on that?
Yes, ion thrusters still use conservation of momentum to generate thrust. They aren't limited by how fast or how hot we can make something explode though, so we can shove way more energy into the stuff they're throwing out the back. They're basically tiny coil/railguns, using electricity to move individual ions really fast.
In terms of efficiency, Ion thrusters are 4 to 40 times better than liquid fueled rockets. The draw back is that ion engines make very little thrust for the mass of the engine.
Yes, just like every new electrical generation method is steam, every new method of propulsion in space is throw something at the back as fast as we can.
The exception being Project Orion. The idea behind project Orion is to constantly drop and explode nuclear bombs behind the spaceship at a rate of 1 bomb per second. The explosion of the bomb would then push the spaceship forward.
ooooooh
well that's pretty neat.