Added: 4 years ago
From: BrunoTheQuestionable
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  • Invest in companies that work towards improving propulsion like this and not in companies content to make more electronic toys. Think about it, which is bad ass? sitting on the bus playing on an iPad or putting a flag on Mars?

  • Kool !

  • Lol Sounds like GladOs (portal , portal 2 )

  • Nah guys its not stephen hawking's wife, it's stephen hawking with a female voice setting....he's kinky like that :p

  • Who is the narrator? Dr. Stephanie Hawking?

  • OMG, it's the Enterprise computer's sister or cousin, and she sounds sexy.

  • its att voice for text aloud etc. PDF reader programm that speaks the books for you. I love the program, there are better voices yet they still get some phonics wrong, haha.

  • but well it blend

  • that voice is the wife of stephen hawking's computer thingy

  • this chic has an interesting accent. where is it from? =P

  • they need to increase the rate of thrust.. make something seriously powerfull.

  • @griff5n 200kW ion engine is out there.

  • If all you fools can think about is the voice ,then you have no clue to what really going on in space, maybe you should pull your heads out of your asses...

  • Unless you're a mute, try an actual voiceover next time. Can't stick around and listen to Microsoft Anna. Laters.

  • i think ufo are real and true,and the government of united states of america should bought this technologies and not to sell to other part of countries of the world and it is very usefull in americas exploration and safety.

  • Why did you use this stupid voice for? Is it so hard to get a human to read it? Do you think anyone aactually likes this voice? lol. Bad.

  • Microsoft Anna?

  • Too bad for the horrible synthetic voice. Why couldn't you find some humain to read your text ?

  • turtle wins the race on this one. outstanding

  • it flys of at the end... THANK GOD!!!

  • the germans started the testing for these engines but it seemed his attept was going straite up if it was a space craft and if it wasnt a probe flying north and rasing altitube till u break the athmosphere get get u out of here

  • this ion engine should be tested planetary leaving the athomospere could be as easy as taking off

  • steven hawkings new voice is hot

  • @Fleetfox10 that's his wife moron. and you should see her breasts. mecha boobs *drools*

  • what happens if you put your hand in the path of ions?

  • Thanks, GLaDOS :)

  • How about inertial propulsion? Check out the CIP by Robert Cook.

  • She is the Borg, resistance is futile

  • id tap that

  • let me guess,

    autotalking program.

    Set to female and robot option.

    FUUUUUUUUK.....

  • all we need now is flux capasitators lol

  • in star wars its the tie fighter.

    twin ion engine

  • all i need now is a arc generator...

  • Dawn is the name of theprobe

  • thers this probe using ion propulsion its going to the asteroid belt and its going to take like years to get there ION PROPULSION SUCKS! the probe is at 2:12

  • so if we used that on earth, so we wouldn't need a canister with gas cuz we could use air, and what about the neutralizer do we still will need it ?

  • @panzarw the air act as an dielectric and will affect the electric phenomena, wouldn't it?

  • @goodbyelonglive44 huh ?

    i meant that the air would be as the neutralizer.

  • i'm not entirely certain but i would suspect that it would gain eventual propulsion - similar to hitting golf balls whilst sitting in a shopping cart; hit enough of 'em consistently (and) you might actually get somewhere.

  • 3:06

    C-Fi

  • Ion build up? Ion charge? Please tell me what kind of charge is this.

    Is a sudden burst of dangerous energy like some kind of laser?

    Or a type of Ion cannon. But then that would require a hell of a lot of power.

  • @G777GUN use google

  • lol this is google translator's voice... type what you want.. and i mean anything and it will say it..

  • This is a little off-topic but-

    The Apollo moon missions were faked in a studio. To see a partial summary of hoax evidence, google "The Naked Scientists". In the "New Theories" section of the forum there's a thread entitled "Did We Land on the Moon?". The summary is on page 15 of the thread. It's the 7th post from the top.

    Also, do a YouTube search on "MarsFaker".

  • @Cosmored no. they wernt. lol. any1 who believes that those were faked have a lump of shit for a brain.

  • @Cosmored

    No it wasn't mythbusters proofed that to be wrong they really did land on the moon

  • can this really work? i thought only blast was needed in order to create prepolsion!

  • @OldSnakeKonovesis Yes it works and it's in use.

  • @urna55 wow thats sooooo coool

  • soo ion thrusters will still use the hohmann transfer orbit to get to other planets?

  • @slaughtahouze1 Don't try and be smart on the internet fuckface.

  • i had a project to do.. i wasn't sure so i asked.

    do u have to attack me? did your mother not love you?

  • Sounds like this is narrated by GLADOS.

  • Ion propulsion is cooler than detonating nuclear charges behind a ship. Is it possible to build a large multiple nozzle ion engine like this to place behind a more sizable ship? Say a ship that could take astronauts to mars?

  • I doubt that the quantity of thrust they state in the video is accurate. I have built home-made ion thrusters with nearly that much thrust. I would not be a bit suprised if these engines are not already in use for atmospheric aircraft.

  • how long did that take you.

  • Not very long considering i built it from tin foil and copper wire. You want a brush discharge but no arcing. I used a signal generator with a driver circuit powering a flyback transformer. Never breath large amounts of ozone, it's very bad for the lungs.

  • oh yea and did the ion magnifier not interfeir with the arogn transfusion engine. i hope not, i got that once and had to deal with the eisen hower effect, damn that was somthing. Na im just kidding i have absolutly no idea what you are on about but thanks anyway.

  • What ever buddy, just because your not smart enough to know what I'm talking about doesn't mean I'm making stuff up.

  • I never said you were.

  • My appologies.

  • no probs and good luck with the transfusion hypernators.

  • The electric grid erosion problem could be fixed by using magnetic feilds to accelerate the ions instead of solid state grids.

  • this chicks voice is hawt

  • @envisionstar lulz. so sektci

  • @envisionstar that's not a real chick at all, I guess it's a software reader, like Adobe.

  • @Metalloys get out of town no way shes got to be real... ;-)

  • @envisionstar I think thats a computer talking. The computer sounds kinda hot tho.

  • @envisionstar "chick"?

    that voice was from some professor..not a "chick"...

  • @goodbyelonglive44 obviously.... dork

  • @envisionstar wife of stephen hawking:P

  • @pureawesomeness2012 hahahha sexxy

  • nice organ at the end..

  • they could have used another robotic voice, besides HAL's Wife...jesus.

    interesting though

  • This video is GREAT!!! It puts me to sleep like no other

  • Great couple!

  • a drocket engine? thats what I heard

  • What a poor excuse for an ion craft

  • I think the narrator is retarded

  • ROFL!!!!! this is a classic! thanks to you, I laughed throughout the film so hard I started crying

  • the narrator is electronic. Stupid retarded computerized person

    C-omputer

    R-etarding

    A-nimated

    P-erson

  • The narrator is probably text to speech software.

  • this video is for astronauts, not humans

  • lol idiot :}}}

  • it is dough int it den?

  • Ahhh the female computer voice from Portal. Ahhhh!

  • no..

  • Yeah I hate her too

  • It's called Microsoft Anna.

  • think of it this way... u might be able to go faster than light if it's on long enough :D

  • you might but that would be a fallacy, the closer to you get to C (the speed of light) I.E. .97C or so the energy required to accelerate faster increases exponentially,

  • hmmn, well u don't actually need to hit the speed of light, u simply need to get past half the speed of light to break the barrier... *if u think about it, there might be some planets doing that in the universe already*

    so anyway, take 2 objects going away from each other, and poof! u break the barrier! or supposed barrier.

    plus, technology improves over the years.

  • Its not possible to go c speed with ion drive because exhaust corrodes.

  • you only need to go just over half the speed of light to see if Einstein is correct.

  • nop lol

  • yeah we know about 20 yrs on full trust that is

  • tie fighter

  • nice computer-generated voice

  • This shit is primitive

  • This was in Star Trek episode 56 when the ship was coming to the Enterprise by using ion propulsion.

  • magnific project yeah!!!

  • Why the fuck would you use text speech, sounds like a freaking Star Trek Robot what the fuck.

  • Um, no. Star Trek computers sound normal. This sounds like shit, like Stephen Hawking.

  • we might end up using ion engine to cruise in space and maneuver but to go at higher velocity, we need nuclear propultion or a photon accelerator

  • then we have a new gas that can be sold... this is absolutly the wrong direction

    listen to schauberger and the world will be a nice place =)..

  • I hate when people use this voice on there vids to seem cool, its soooo very annoying please stop!!

  • Ok perhaps some one can answer this question for me. Understandable that ION engines are not yet capable of providing great amounts of thrust, but would there be any forseeable dange in using one in a planets atmospher specificaly our own?

  • Hi,

    Ion thrusters (or properly known as magnetoplasmadynamic ion thrusters) operate on Xenon, an inert substance. These are not dangerous, and it's essentially the same physics behind what is going on in those lightning orbs you can buy at junk stores :-P. It's unlikely they'll ever be used as primary propulsion sources, but they have tremendous potential for deep space exploration.

  • So another words it will have no bad impact on the environment using one inside the atmosphere?

  • you probably can't use it in the atmosphere :) the force is way to weak. About the same as a sheet of paper on your hand.They work by building up speed

  • Unfortunately, no. Ion propulsion can only work in a vacuum. The electrical charge of the ions is dissipated in an atmosphere.

  • wtf would you use text to speech for this?

  • the voice sounds like a robot

  • Looks like a Red Dwarf ( british comedy ) Engine .Good 4-SPACE ?

  • lol

    computers speak funny

  • her voice turns me on

  • if i understand this right, than the having an ionpropulsion engine big enough to lift a person would probably look like an enormous continuous lightning bolt exploding from the underside of the craft

  • I don't think it's for the start, but for 'cruising' in space

  • Could be possible to generate more thrust using for example 100 to 1000 times more xenon than current ionic propellers??

  • hey is this different to the VASIMR engine?

  • VASIMR is up to tens times as fuel efficient, plus it puts out a lot more thrust. A mission to mars would actually take longer with an ion engine since it takes many months just to reach the necessary speed.  However, a VASIMR engine, firing continuously could be just as fast as a chemical rocket. Only problem is, the technology is still in it's infancy. there will be an experimental probe launched sometime soon tho, either 2009 or 2010.

  • yeah, i really liked the idea that nano tube cables could create an elevator to geo orbit, wish someone would hurry up and manufacture it-

    i heard someone talking about VASIMR being used on the mining mission planned after the moon base gets set up-

  • VASIMR still has a lot less thrust than chemical rockets. It could take days, even weeks to reach the moon, whereas as chemical rocket can reach the moon in three days, and fires it's engines for three minutes. However, VASIMR would use a lot less fuel and could actually be cheaper when used for unmanned freight. It can't really be used for manned lunar missions since it would be in the van Allen belts for days while it completes a spiral orbit.

  • Comment removed

  • wow i just looked at your profile, and you are laughing about 9/11...

    you're also a fan of soviet union and CCP and anti american-

    fuck you i hope you die you back stabbing pig

  • Wow, that comment has absolutely nothing at all to do with Ion propulsion whatsoever. Hell, it's not even the slightest bit relevant.

  • i don't know...

    on one hand you're friendly with americans when it suits you, then on the other you are stabbing them in the back and spreading hate-

    and laughing at them when they get attacked...

    how obscene, and here you are putting on a fake face pretending everythings fine

    you are the opitome of weakness

  • Well, actually I was talking about the ones who think 9-11 was secretly a plot by their government but to each his own.

  • that is true but why would someone try to even make a elevator to orbit, there is many risk for this project, it can be damaged which can risk lives, or be destoryed by debris or comets passing by at high speed

  • the reason is the lower cost to get into orbit, since electric motors are far cheaper to run than rocket engines...

    that means a person could haul all sorts of materials into space and get it into orbit from there-

    concrete, metal, glass

    you could build a rocket with ion engine and put that on there, then launch it from orbit, instead of burning a billion dollars of fuel and the risk isn't even as bad as current rocket technology, which is extremely risky

  • oh yeah your right, but this idea is far from real yet, we still have more imporatant issues right now, maybe one day this can be achieved, thanks

  • actually carbon nanofibre yarn is being produced in australia and america right now....

    as far as engineering projects go, many other projects like deep sean construction or the bridge to Gibralter are much more challenging-

    it could happen in a decade, the only thing slowing all this technology down is theres no huge profits to be made....

    once america starts mining the moon and bringing back untold new materials in large qantities things will change...

  • but the thrust of the ion engine is at this time too weak for a earth to space start... carlez2 did it good explan :-)

  • sorry, Hayabusa is on the way to return to the earth by useing ion engine system in order to send its capsule filling of sample of surface of planete Itokawa on Oct.2010.

  • Ion engine system was already examined and used

    by japanese planete survey equipment "Hayabusa".Hayabusa took some sample of surface of planete "Itokawa" and on the way to return to the earthe on 2008.10 by using ion engine system.

  • Please BrunoTheQuestionable, I need to feast on your superior knowledge.

    Please share more information with me.

  • I would use RF4, but my computer is to slow. too many calculations.

    + I have not learned python scripting yet..

  • hehehehe all my friends say im REALLY naughty and flirty. hehe *maybe* a

  • How much electricity would I need to lift 2 tonnes 1 metre off the ground? What size and weight would the engine be?

  • An ion engine isn't capable of lifting its own weight off the ground :(

  • how is not? what would thrust be if that was the case? NASA is using this.

  • the ion engines are only usable in space, where no resistance or force pulls at it. Although it only emits a few grams of thrust it will "burn" for a looooong time, and eventually a spacecraft will reach high speeds.

    It will need conventional rockets to get it into space though.

  • I didn't think about that. Good point.  I stand corrected.

  • i just think a ship with about 40 of these ion engines behind it would look awesome.

  • whats keeping us from building a gigantic one?

  • weight and power needed!!

  • ablen español endejos

  • guy brilliant idea why not use this engine in cars, build a small engine that will move a car, and i know what your thinking how to conver this engine into mechanical power or torque power, that what make a car go up a hill.

  • The thrust of an ion thruster is very little- it's like standing on a skateboard and shooting a fire extinguisher- wouldn't be practical anywhere except in space, where momentum can grow without gravitational and frictional interference

  • And with a very low acceleration ... (years-scale)

  • this are the same type o propultion iron man uses right. but is it posible to make it smaller?

  • Um, no. Iron Man uses Repulsor Beam (Fictional) technology in his thrusters, as well as his hand cannons. They work in a way that repulses whatever is in front of it. In the same way you are pushed backward when you push on a kitchen counter while wearing socks, instead of the whole thing buckling forward, Iron Man moves, and the planet doesn't. It is uncertain how Repulsor Beams work, but it may be similar to Star Wars' Repulsorlift technology, used in speeders and starships for lift. TIEs Cont

  • I heard this way of propulsion came from an Episode of Star Trek TOS.

    I've known about that for some time and I have designed this engine into space craft that I have designed, just my little aritsts conception of the future.

    Oh, and I have no idea what you've been talking about in other comments lol

  • I really enjoy watching videos like this. Gives my little mind something to think about. :)

  • What about the Bussard Interstellar Ramjet mentioned in Carl Sagan's book, COSMOS?

  • One viable option could be a combination probably of more propulsion types for interstellar travel. Eg a sail for the initial push close to the sun and deceleration, electric engines powered by nuclear fission (or fusion if it is in the future). I

  • I had the same thought. Perhaps with some close flybys of the Sun to boost velocity using the sail, and a few planetary gravitational assist maneuvers. The ion engine would also be useful for course control while in the solar system.

  • Cool. It seems that if we wanted to send an unmanned mission to the nearest star using todays technology, this would be the way to go. But how long (centuries, millenia?) would that take? (And how realistic is it?)

  • You would have to take a fission reactor along to power the ion engine, but it seems do-able. It would take quite a while though. I believe solar sails can achieve much higher velocity. I'm sure we could launch something in 10 years time that would overtake anything we launch now.

  • To Trondreitan,

    It depends on what the maximum thrust is for this engine. I have done calculations for going to Alpha Centauri, our closest neighboring star system. Alpha Centauri is located 4.1 light years away from our Solar System; thus, with a constant acceleration resulting in an average velocity of 50% of the speed of light (.5c) it would take us 28 years to get there.

  • Thanks both to you KickAssClown and Bruno. But can we really make anything that reaches 0.5c on a distance of 4 lyr with todays technology?

    How much time would it take to accelerate to that velocity? (PS: Don't use to much time answering this. This is pretty idle speculation from my side.)

  • For a rocket engine, to maintain fuel efficiency it is necessary to keep the maximum spacecraft velocity below the exhaust velocity. Take as an example a spacecraft moving away from us at a speed equal to the exhaust velocity - recently expelled fuel will be stationary relative to us - it contributes zero momentum overall to the spacecraft ! The momentum gained when it was expelled is equal to the momentum absorbed by the fuel earlier in the flight.

  • The exhaust velocity for an ion engine is about 100km/s giving a journey time to the nearest star of at least 10,000 years.

  • I disagree. Supposed the spacecraft travels at speed v away from us and has mass m. It's momentum is m*v, if say half it's mass remains stationary, you have 0*m/2+v2*m/2=m*v (conservation of momentum, where v2 is the speed of the craft) => v2=2*v, the speed away from us doubled !. "maximum spacecraft velocity" dosen't exist, any rocket propulsion system can reach any speed if you run it long enough :).

    What determines performance is Isp.

  • You're correct that there is no maximum spacecraft velocity, but in order for the spacecraft to reach a velocity in excess of the exhaust velocity it is necessary to carry a very large mass of fuel at launch. The overall fuel efficiency drops rapidly.

  • I just ran a few quick simulations for a payload of 100kg and an exhaust velocity of 100km/s.

    100kg fuel: final velocity = 68km/s

    1000kg fuel: final velocity = 233km/s

    10000kg fuel: final velocity = 459km/s

    100000kg fuel: final velocity = 687km/s

  • Yes i understand what you meant. It's not that the engine itself is less performant at higher speeds, but you have a much higher mass to push at the start, and thus a smaller acceleration.

  • That's true, but there's no real theoretical limit to an Ion engines specific impulse, besides maybe the Planck energy, but even then a black hole maintains it's charge for a bit so maybe...

    The practical limit is at what voltage you begin punching holes in your grid at too fast of a rate. ESA's DS4G engines has 10X the specific impulse of previous models. Further advances should increase that further.

  • Thanks Bruno. Solar sails may eventually reach high velocities, but would use an enormous amount of time to get to such velocity (I would think, as I would think the acceleration would be very low). So it's not clear to me what would be the best technology (of today) for reaching Alpha Centauri. There's always the lure of new technology right over the horizon, but I'm curious about what we could achieve right here and now if we put a little elbow grease on.

  • I've done a little research on sails and apparently a 1km^2 sail with a mass of 1kg at 1AU from the Sun has an acceleration of about 1g ! It will be tricky but I think I'll have a go at working out what velocity can be acheived from a Sun fly-by maneuver.

  • A problem with solar sails is that they would be ineffective past the heliopause. Additionally, to be really effective solar sails need to venture close to the Sun, where radiation makes it very dangerous for human travel (if not impossible).

  • I had also imagined that solar sails worked using the solar wind, but apparently this is not the case - the force due to radiation pressure is about 500 times greater than the force due to the solar wind. However, your general point that solar sails are only effective when close to a star is correct.

  • Have you seen the TV series "Mars Rising"? They explain an idea where a solar sail is accelerated by a laser parked in earth orbit and decelerated by another laser orbiting Mars. Seems like a good idea for a quick turn-around mission.

  • Interesting idea, but what is the power source for the laser ? It would require a lot of power.

  • I suspect the power source would have to be nuclear. The cool thing is the laser spacecraft sent to Mars ahead of time could be pre-positioned and fully certified before the astronauts embarked.

  • I agree

  • Correction - the force due to radiation pressure is about 5000 times greater than the force due to the solar wind.