Comment by martythemaniak
8 years ago
No. This is a ion thruster, a class of thrusters which already exist and are used in various satellites. They carry a propellant (xenon), then use electricity to accelerate and shoot the propellant out the back. This provides extremely efficient, but low amount of thrust (like a nudge).
This development gets rid of the need to carry propellant. They satellite will scoop it up from the atmosphere, saving weight and prolonging life.
So "air collecting" or "mass collecting" would be more accurate since it doesn't really breath like a typical air breathing engine?
It doesn't accelerate the air like a typical air breathing engine, but it certainly ingests the air like one. It's basically a ramjet but uses electric charge to accelerate the exhaust gas rather than hydrocarbons.