The Ion Propulsion is being mostly used in the vacuum of space for accurate movement of various small ( less than 4800kgs) space bound vehicles like satellites. Although they are not used for launching bodies space from earth through the atmosphere primarily for their weak thrust (in hundreds of micro-Newton) which can’t overcome the pull of gravity & the drag of air successfully, technological advances may or may not enable the launching alongside chemical propulsion or entirely on its own in the far future. The motivation behind the experiment conducted was to gauge empirically the thrust produced by a simple ion thruster working in the near sea-level atmospheric conditions & to observe the propulsion at different configurations. Ion thrusters being one of the efficient engines poses some unanswered questions & are worth investigating mainly because of their high efficiencies. Although the prediction made is that the thrust will be in micro-Newton because of the low power input to the system & the overall efficiency may also be low (less than 50%) due to various losses in electrical systems, design, viscosity of air, etc. A well designed commercial thruster may be able to produce acceptable efficiencies but the setup used here is a simple one

1. International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering ISSN:2349-2163
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ELECTRO-STATIC ION PROPULSION IN
AMBIENT ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS
Adeep S1, T Yella Reddy2, S Mohan2& Lokesh G Reddy4
1 Student, Mechanical Engineering, Vemana IT
2 Dean, Vemama IT
3 Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Vemana IT
4 Lokesh G Reddy, Mechanical Engineering, Vemana IT
Bangalore - 560034
Abstract - The Ion Propulsion is being mostly used in the vacuum of space for accurate movement of various small (
less than 4800kgs) space bound vehicles like satellites. Although they are not used for launching bodies space from
earth through the atmosphere primarily for their weak thrust (in hundreds of micro-Newton) which can’t overcome
the pull of gravity & the drag of air successfully, technological advances may or may not enable the launching
alongside chemical propulsion or entirely on its own in the far future. The motivation behind the experiment
conducted was to gauge empirically the thrust produced by a simple ion thruster working in the near sea-level
atmospheric conditions& to observe the propulsion at different configurations. Ion thrusters being one of the efficient
engines poses some unanswered questions & are worth investigating mainly because of their high efficiencies.
Although the prediction made is that the thrust will be in micro-Newton because of the low power input to the system
& the overall efficiency may also be low (less than 50%) due to various losses in electrical systems, design, viscosity of
air, etc. A well designed commercial thruster may be able to produce acceptable efficiencies but the setup used here is
a simple one.
1. INTRODUCTION
The phenomena of electrostatic attraction when a rod of amber rubbed with cat fur could attract feathers was
well known in the ancient times. The first documentation of this phenomena was during 600 BC by a greek philosopher
called Thales of Miletus [1]. Although his explanations were somewhat vague - ‘Attractions explain that they have souls’
& surely wouldn't stand in today’s science & technology driven environment. The accurate mathematical expression for
electro-static force of attraction/repulsion between charges was given in 1785 by Charles-Augustin de Coulomb [2].
The first person to propagate the idea of ion propulsion was a Russian-Soviet known as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky,
a pioneer of astronautic theory in 1911 [3]. The space race between the U.S. & U.S.S.R. after the WWII, kicked the
development of ion thrusters in high gear. In fact, Robert H Goddard had also envisioned the idea of accelerating ions to
provide thrust without the need of high temperatures as early in the year 1906 [4].
Today there are two types of ion propulsion -
(i) Electrostatic Thrusters – These systems use purely electrostatic force to accelerate the ions. Ex: Gridded Electrostatic
Thruster, etc.
(ii) Electro-thermal Thrusters - These systems heat the propellant usually by electric arc discharge, which then is allowed
to escape at high velocities. Ex: Arcjet, Resistojet, etc.
(iii) Electromagnetic Thrusters - These use Lorentz Force - a combination of electrostatic force & magnetic force to
accelerate the ions. Ex: Magneto-Plasma-Dynamic (MPD) thruster, Hall Effect Thruster, etc. [5]
Today Ion Propulsion is one of the leading technology used for precise motion of orbital satellites around earth
& deep space explorers like Dawn spacecraft launched in 2007 by NASA which has enabled it to orbit two extra-
terrestrial destinations - asteroids Vesta& Ceres in the asteroid belt between Mars & Jupiter [6]. The Dawn spacecraft
carries 425kgs of Xenon but it uses a maximum of 3.25 milligrams of xenon per second at maximum thrust which if run
continuously can last over 30 years [7]. Normally the ions are accelerated up to a velocity of 100,000 km/h using only a
few thousand volts. But the heyday of ion propulsion is yet to come by the technological developments in the coming
years.
2. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The experiment requires the following basic equipment -
• High Voltage Direct Current (DC) Power Supply -
Any system or electrical setup that can deliver a few thousands of volts in the form of direct current (DC) will
enable the experiment to be conducted, but a 10kV+ DC system is preferred as higher voltages will enable the
phenomena to be more noticeable. The setup used while conducting this experiment was a system with a flyback
transformer as the high voltage source driven by a 2n3055 NPN transistor for switching the constant DC supply of 12V

2. International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering ISSN:2349-2163
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pulsating supplied to the transistor from a voltage regulator. The output of the flyback transformer is around 30kHz DC.
A constant high voltage DC is preferable, usually by rectifying a high voltage AC such as from Neon Transformer.
Alternating current is not preferable due to possible deceleration (due to direction change of current in next cycle) of
previously accelerated ions in the previous cycle. But the theory is that AC system does provide a thrust but not as
effective as the DC systems.
• Hollow Metal Cylinder –(Fig.1)
A hollow metal cylinder of roughly equal diameter to its length dimensions i.e., square shaped cylinder can be
used, longer axial lengths are usually not preferred due to viscous losses of air flow for low voltages, as the voltages
increases longer lengths are suitable. It is also to be noted that the outside surface of the cylinder be polished in nature in
order to avoid corona discharges. Rough surface finish is preferred in case of inside surface whose reason shall be
explained in the further sections. In the experiment a cylinder with smooth surface (inside & outside) and a cylinder with
grooves (inside & outside) was used.The pitch of inside & outside grooves is 2mm.
• Sharp Edged Metal Electrode (Fig.2)
Any electrode that has the capacity to produce high electric potential gradient enough to cause corona discharge
but not high potential gradient enough to produce a electrical breakdown/arcing of air. A single electrode was used in this
experimental analysis. An electrode that may produce a corona discharge at relatively low voltages (less than 20kV)
could produce a electric arc at higher voltages (above 50kV). As the voltage used increases smoother surfaces near the tip
is needed to make sure it causes corona discharge and to avoid potential electric breakdown of air or increase in number
of electrodes.
• Force Detector / Force Sensing Element -
The sensing element can be as simple as a paper sheet or a sensor capable of measuring in micro-Newtons or
even lower scales with a precision. But since this experiment was about the verification of a possibility of ion thruster
operating in earth atmospheric conditions, a small paper sheet & a metal sheet was used to indicate the effect.
• Temperature Sensor -
An alcohol/mercury thermometer is preferable. Since during operation of the ion propulsion system, disturbance
in electronic systems present near the setup was observed primarily due to the chaotic RF waves (3 kHz to 300 GHz)
emitted by the corona discharges from the electrode. These RF waves could compromise the data that would be indicated
by electronic instruments. Smartphones, TVs, Multimeters, etc. near the ion propulsion system were found to misbehave
when the propulsion system was ON. Even though these electronic devices had faraday caging inside them to protect
sensitive electronics, the thin caging was useless in this experiment. So,an external faraday caging of copper was
provided to the video recording device that was used to note temperature variations with respect to time.
• Volatile Organic Liquids -
An organic liquid of lower boiling point than water is preferable, water can be used but the presence of humidity
in air can vary the evaporation rate at different locations. Ethanol was used as the organic liquid here because of its
relatively non-toxic nature compared to other organic liquids with suitable boiling points below that of water. Methanol
was considered for use in experiment but was ruled out due to its highly toxic nature. Acetone was also considered but its
evaporation was too quick in forced convection. Also, Ethanol is a cheaper & is easily available.
• Electrical Connection Elements -
These are materials that connect all the above stated electrical elements, commonly used materials are metal
wires. Wires are to be chosen keeping in mind to avoid potential power bottle neck due to resistance in wires.
Parameters of equipments taken into consideration in selection (bracketed terms indicate the used dimensions) -
1. Hollow Metal Cylinder–
Fig.1 Hollow Cylinder
Outer Diameter of
Cylinder (26mm)
Inner Diameter of
Cylinder (18.5mm)
Length of Cylinder
(21.4mm)
Transverse Sectional View Longitudinal Section View

3. International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering ISSN:2349-2163
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2. Sharp Edged Electrode –
3. WORKING OF ION PROPULSION IN AMBIENT CONDITIONS
The Fig.3 shows a general arrangement required for the experiment setup –
Fig.3 General representation of the experiment setup.
The high potential gradient on the tip of electrode causes the corona discharge, which starts to initiate the ion
production by stripping the molecules of air into positive & negative ions, the ions that are of same charges as that of
sharp electrodeare expelled away from the electrode. The opposite charge on the cylinder attracts the expelled ions from
the electrode accelerating them. These ions may be positive or negative depending on the circuit arrangement connection
of electrode & cylinder to the DC power supply. The pressure of the location was approximately 1 atm.Positive corona
was taken at the electrode due to the general understanding that it is visibly much easier to observe. Negative corona
requires photoionization for ionization of air & oxygen favors negative corona because oxygen catches the electrons that
are emitted from the ionization region. This is the primary reason why ozone production using negative corona produces
2-3 times higher concentration than positive corona & a main reason to use positive corona to prevent ozone build up in
ion propulsion system which is toxic. [9]
= − + + [8]
The following relationship were observed -
Increasing the resulted in increasing which was observed as intense corona discharges. Where,
= − ∇
V is the potential difference in volts
i, j & k are the directional cosines in Cartesian coordinates x, y &z
Regular Ion
Regular Air Flow High Voltage DC
Supply System
(-/+)(+/-)
Anode/Cathode
Cathode/Anode
Sharp Edged
Electrode
Detector
Regions of High
Potential Gradient
Fig.2 Longitudinal Section Viewof Electrode
Tip Diameter of
Electrode (0.5mm)
Base Diameter of Electrode
(2.3mm)
Length of Electrode from base to
tip (3mm)

4. International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering ISSN:2349-2163
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These ions may be positive or negative depending on the
circuit arrangement connection of electrode & cylinder to the DC power
supply. The circuitry connection also decides whether the corona
discharge produced is positive or negative at the electrode. The
accelerated ions collide with the molecules of gases in air (Nitrogen,
Oxygen,etc.) & transfer of momentum takes place between them. The
ions are accelerated again due to electric field that exists between the
electrode & cylinder. These ions collide with air molecules & repeat the
process until they reach the cylinder. The ions join the inner cylinder
surface at the region of highest potential gradient.
This phenomenon can be seen in the image Fig4(a)& (b).
The accelerated ions have two components of force acting on
them as the electrostatic force of attraction acts at an inclination as the
ions enter the vicinity of the cylinder & inside the cylinder - vertical
force & horizontal force. There will not be corona discharge initiation
on cylinder due to mostly uniform potential gradient on the cylinder
compared to the electrode which has higher gradient at the tip due to the
geometrical variation -
<<
The force on the accelerated ions of charge ‘ q ' under influence
of an electric field ‘ Efield’ can given by Lorentz Force Law for a
potential difference ‘V’, neglecting effect of magnetic field ‘ Bfield’ as it
is comparatively minuscule -
= +
=
=
2
2
= [10]
Where, = , mis the mass of the ions, KEis the Kinetic Energy
of the ions, Vionsis the velocity of ions.
But since ions are travelling in air the thrust can be given by
1D electro hydrodynamic equation, for current I, distance between
electrodes L& ion mobility in air - [11]
=
Any major extreme geometric irregularities cause a potential gradient to build up which can lead to corona
discharge & electric arcing. The edges at the entrance of the cylinder can cause a small amount of corona discharge, it is
to be avoided at all costs as it causes the ions from the electrode to complete circuitry by joining the cylinder at the edges
without entering the cylinder which is a potential loss of thrust. High potential gradients are suitable at the outside
surface at the end of the cylinder and inside of the cylinder at the end of cylinder are suitable as for the ions to complete
the circuitry.
When the electrode is brought near the cylinder, Fig5(a), Fig5(b)& Fig5(c), the observation is that there is a
formation of near flat violet layer which is the primary path of ions return to the cylinder as represented in the diagram.
Here the ions bypass the entry into cylinder which was discussed in above paragraph. This is due to the ions following
the nearest path to the cylinder. At this configuration, the thrust is very low, nearly negligible. But there is a small jet of
ions that can be seen that do enter the cylinder to give a very small amount of thrust as seen in the images. The violet
layer was very faint to be detected by the camera that was used in this experiment. But it is significantly visible to the
naked eye in the dark.
The images provided used positive corona discharges at the electrode which could be prominently seen in bright
light as violet stream with a hissing sound. Positive corona gave a big violet colored stream that changed in length &
intensity if the electrode was moved towards or away from the cylinder. Negative corona discharges were also used
which gave similar thrust responses but it was silent & had no violet streams that could be seen in positive corona. There
was only a violet tuft at the tip of the electrode that could be seen only in the dark with no change in the tuft shape when
the electrode was moved towards & away from the cylinder as in positive corona [12].
Fig4(a) - Ion emission from electrode in dark
Fig 4(b) - Ion emission from electrode under
lighting

5. International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering ISSN:2349-2163
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The corona discharge can be classified into –
(i) Unipolar Conduction Corona – The ionization region is limited
to the region of high potential gradient & can be seen as a violet tuft. These
are called Trichel negative corona. Negative corona attracts the positive
ions & shoots away the electrons. These electrons are the primary source of
ionization along with photoionization.[13]
(ii) Bipolar Conduction Corona– The ionization region grows into
filaments if there is a nearby potential sink or if potential gradient is very
high it causes streamers into surrounding fluid. Positive corona belongs to
this type of phenomena.Photoionization can help in positive corona, but it’s
not a necessary condition.[13]
Another method of sensing the movement of air is by exploiting
the heat absorption of volatile liquids using forced evaporation. This
experiment was conducted after a sheet of paper was used as a sensing
element which made the sheet move due to air movement. In a similar setup
to that of previous method, instead of a detector (paper) a thermometer was
used to indicate the temperature drop by evaporating the volatile liquids. This
method could provide a definitive proof to indicate whether there was indeed
movement of air which caused the paper to move OR the paper moved just because of electrostatic charges build up on it.
If there was air movement then the volatile liquid should evaporate faster leading to a lower temperature recorded within
a short period of time (i.e., forced evaporation) than a reference natural evaporation in which the liquid was evaporated
with the propulsion system OFF. The general setup is indicated in Fig 3.
In this experiment, the room temperature was constant at 33 . Two mercury thermometers were used with a
range of -10 to 360 & division markings for every 2 , one was a reference thermometer which was used as control
for the experiment, another was used for sensing the temperature change for evaporation of a volatile liquid under natural
& forced evaporation.
The Fig 6 shows a general setup of the evaporation experiment. The thermometer was kept in the same position
for both the cases (i.e., when Propulsion system was ON & OFF) to make sure there was no errors introduced by placing
the thermometer at different locations. The measurement thermometer was placed axially perpendicular to the cylinder.
The diagram shows the setup when the propulsion system was ON but during OFF condition the only change is that there
will be no airflow or ion production or ion flow.
Fig 5(b) - Formation of the ion layer at the
entrance under lightings
Fig 5(c) - Formation of the ion layer at the entrance in dark
Fig 5(a) - Formation of the ion layer at the
entrance under lightings

6. International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering ISSN:2349-2163
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The control thermometer was kept far away from the propulsion system in the room. The measurement
thermometer was wrapped in a two layer 100% cotton cloth around the mercury bulb. All the equipments were allowed
to sit 30 minutes in the room to reach same temperature as that of the room. The experiment was conducted when all the
temperature of equipment was the same. If not the systems were allowed to sit further until they reached the same
temperature which was in this case 33 . The measurement thermometer was placed at the exit of the cylinder. The
measurement thermometer now with cloth covered over its bulb was made sure its temperature reading matched to that of
the reference temperature which was at constant room temperature. After confirmation that they show the same reading,
0.3mL of anhydrous Ethanol was made to absorb by the cloth using a syringe. The video recording was started 10
seconds before & the Ethanol was poured as the video timing hit 10 seconds (i.e., 00.00.10 sec). The video recording was
taken up to 4 minutes 10 seconds (00.04.10 sec) which is a total of 240 seconds from the time of pouring 0.3 mL of
Ethanol.
The video recording device was covered with a thick faraday caging to prevent malfunctioning. Two video
recordings were made one was of that the measurement thermometer another of reference thermometer. This was made
to make sure the room temperature stayed at a constant temperature of 33 & to note any deviations in reference
thermometer temperature. The experimenter moved out of the room as soon as the experiment started, this was done to
prevent any potential heat sources & arrived only after 4 minutes had passed. The propulsion setup did not heat up unless
ran for continuous 30 minutes but nonetheless the high voltage system was kept outside the room with only high voltage
wires coming into the room. This experimental procedure is same for both the below mentioned cases with only
difference being whether the propulsion system was ON or OFF. Experiment was conducted two times in the order -
Experiment 1 - Propulsion OFF → Propulsion ON
Experiment 2 - Propulsion ON → Propulsion OFF
In both experiments after the first sub-experiment was conducted the cloth was removed from the bulb of the
measurement thermometer & were allowed to sit for 30 minutes in the room with constant temperature of 33 . Then the
cotton cloth was rolled to form two layers around the bulb of measurement thermometer & allowed to sit another 10
minutes. The next sub-experiment was conducted only when the reference & measurement thermometer read 33 . The
total experiment for one order was around approximately 80 minutes with total time of 160 minutes (2 Hours 40 minutes)
for entire experiment. During the entire experiment the room temperature was at 33 .
Two cases for the experiment conducted -
Case (i) - Propulsion system is OFF & the liquid is evaporated by natural evaporation.
Case (ii) - Propulsion system is ON & the liquid is evaporated by forced evaporation.
The graph plot of the temperature drop for 0.3mL Ethanol evaporation for both when propulsion is OFF/ON
shows a major temperature drop with respect to time when the propulsion is ON. This is a proof that indicates there is a
mass flow of air which increases the evaporation rate of Ethanol which in turn increases the total heat absorbed with
respect to time during evaporation.There is formation of an Ethanol vapor layer over the cloth which has a partial
pressure exerted on the cloth.
Fig 6 - Schematic of the forced evaporation process experiment
Regular Ion
Regular Air Flow
Thermomete
r
High Voltage
DC Supply
System
(-/+)(+/-)
Anode/Cathode
Cathode/Anode
Sharp Edged
Electrode
Two-layer cotton
cloth

7. International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering ISSN:2349-2163
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The mass flow of air drives off the ethanol vapor rich air which had formed a stagnant layer over the cloth soaked with
ethanol.Driving away this layer brings in fresh air which encourages the evaporation by getting rid of the partial pressure
of Ethanol vapors.
Note the
difference in the slope of
graph curve of natural
evaporation v/s forced
evaporation at the
beginning of experiment up
to 80 seconds. It can be
seen that the slope of the
forced evaporation curve is
higher than that of the
natural evaporation, which
implies that temperature
drop per unit time is higher
when propulsion system
was ON (Forced
Evaporation).
4. PROBLEMS IN AMBIENT ION PROPULSION
Failure to provide a suitable high potential gradient (when compared to other parts of cylinder) at the end of the
cylinder may result in ions travelling beyond the cylinder towards the sensor resulting in charged sensor. The setup also
gains an equal and opposite amount of charge resulting in electrostatic force of attraction according to Coulomb’s Law of
Electrostatics. In fact, during the experiment both metal & paper detectors were attracted to the cylinder even if the thrust
was of opposite direction when placed at short distance upto 1cm. Hence the detector should be placed at a suitable
distance from the cylinder exit in order to avoid charging of detector.
If no obstruction is encountered the accelerated ion exits the cylinder, after exiting it slows down due to
collision with air molecules & the electrostatic pull from the cylinder, the stationary ion then accelerates backwards
towards the cylinder with possibility of colliding with the air that was flowing from electrode to cylinder which can result
in decreased thrust. This ion can be called as Rogue Ion, the air flow due to Rogue Ion is called Rogue Air Flow. A
highly polished inside & outside surfaces of cylinder results in more number of Regular Ions transitioning to Rogue Ions
due to lack of high potential gradient for the ions to reach the cylinder &the effect of thrust loss becomes very prominent.
Note that Regular Ions that do not join the cylinder at first attempt but exit the cylinder are called as Rogue Ions with the
meaning of ‘Rogue’ used in the context of ‘dishonest, not expected & causes damage’.
Another sharp tip electrode can be provided at the end of the cylinder which facilities formation of a opposite
corona discharge with respect to electrode leading to emission of an ion of opposite charge to that of the Regular Ion
which can join the Regular Ion to neutralize the stream, which avoids the Regular Ion traveling a curved path to the
cylinder becoming a Rogue Ion. But this experiment employed internal grooves to provide the high potential gradient,
which was high enough to pull the Regular Ions but not high enough to cause a corona discharge causing a emission of
oppositely charged ions.
Vacuum operated Electrostatic thrusters employ the first technique (i.e., emission of opposite charges from a
separate device) to neutralizes the stream of Regular Ions. In this experiment the second technique (neutralization by
internal grooves) was employed. There is no emission of ions of opposite charges from the grooves in the cylinder but
acts as the potential sink for the Regular Ions. This second technique has some difficulties in neutralizing the ions
without proper design. Primarily in this second technique the accelerated Regular Ion needs to follows a curved path to
the region of high potential gradient (i.e., internal grooves) for neutralization, if not, production of Rogue Ionwill ensue.
0
2
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18
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22
24
26
28
30
32
34
0
10
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60
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80
90
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120
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240
Temperature(℃)
Time (seconds)
Natural Evaporation(PropulsionOFF) Forced Evaporation (PropulsionON)

8. International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering ISSN:2349-2163
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Some of the difficulties are discussed in detail below (detailed theory& diagram in next page) -
Case (i) The below figure shows the action of rogue ion without detector placed shown inFig.7(a)–
Case (ii) The below figure shows the action of rogue ion with detector placed shown in Fig.7(b) –
The both of the above stated cases results in decreased thrust –
Case (i) - Due to formation of Rogue Air Flow that opposes Regular Air Flow.
The Fig.8in next page shows arepresentation of the Case (i) Fig7.(a), it shows an axial cross-section of
cylinder.Since the accelerated Regular Ions have entered the cylinder they have a curved path to the cylinder, hence have
two components - horizontal force (thrust) & vertical force (not indicated). The thrust produced is maximum when the
ions are traveling near the axis of the cylinder i.e., while the vertical component is zero when traveling along axis &
thrust decreases as they follow a path to the cylinder, in these conditions situation arises when the vertical force
component is more than the thrust component.
Rogue Ion
Path
High Voltage DC
Supply System
(-/+)(+/-)
Anode/Cathode
Cathode/Anode
Sharp Edged
Electrode
Regular Ion
Rogue Ion
Regular Air Flow
Rogue Air Flow
High Voltage DC
Supply System
(-/+)(+/-)
Anode/Cathode
Cathode/Anode
Sharp Edged
Electrode
Regular Ion
Rogue Ion
Regular Air Flow
Detector
Fig.7(a)

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10. International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering ISSN:2349-2163
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Regular Ion
Rogue Ion
Regular Air Flow
Rogue Air Flow
Electrostatic Force of Attraction on Regular Ion
Electrostatic Force of Attraction on Rogue Ion
Equivalent Thrust Imparted from Regular Ion to Air
Molecule
Inclination Angle of Regular Ion
Inclination Angle of Rogue Ion
Thrust Imparted by Rogue Ion to Air molecule
q Regular Ion
q Rogue Ion
Axis of the Cylinder
q
q
q
Cylinder Section
Regions of high
potential gradient
=
=
=
=
0
0
when
when
when
when
=
=
=
=
90°
0°
90°
0°

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At this moment, the air molecules move along a curved path to the cylinder due to the momentum transfer from the ions
moving in a curved path. The air molecules will bounce back towards the axis of cylinder after collision with cylinder
surface. Similarly, the Rogue Ion also has two components of the electrostatic pull horizontal force (rogue thrust) &
vertical force (not indicated). It can also be interpreted that –
It is to be noted that the Rogue Thrust has a effect on the main thrust but not enough to overwhelm it. The
percentage of Rogue Ions will be less than the percentage of Regular Ions becauseif it was equal or other way around
then the net thrust would be zero or in the opposite direction. The net total thrust can be given by –
ℎ = −
Case (ii) Fig.7(b) - Due to electrostatic force of attraction between charged detector and cylinder which results
in detector traveling against Regular Air Flow i.e., towards the cylinder. The detector gains the charge of Rogue Ion
while the opposite polarity of cylinder is the main cause of electrostatic force of attraction. Here the detector can register
a higher thrust because of the motion of detector against the air flow which can increase the air pressure at the moment if
the cylinder is fixed rigidly. If both the cylinder & detector are not fixed then they can both approach towards each other.
Thrust loss in case (ii) can be explained with an example-
Consider an aircraft taking off from a surface which is fixed, cemented ground surface on earth can be taken as the
takeoff surface. The cylinder can be taken as the nozzle of the aircraft whose axis can be thought as being perpendicular
to the surface for simplicity. When aircraft starts the ion propulsion the Rogue Ions blow out from the nozzle which
reach the surface starting to charge it. The ion propulsion system gains an opposite charge to that of Rogue Ion’s charge
due to incompletion of electrical circuitry. As the aircraft tries to take off the force of attraction between the surface and
the aircraft becomes significant - pulling the spacecraft back towards the ground. As the aircraft increases the thrust to
escape the pull the surface & aircraft both gain charges which results in a higher pull compared to before. Although the
aircraft may take off successfully the aircraft thrust will always will be lower than the maximum possible if this
phenomenon did not exist.
Even when the aircraft flies in the vacuum of space the constant discharge of Rogue Ions from aircraft creates
the case (ii) - electrostatic pull on aircraft, the Rogue Ions do return to the aircraft after being discharged to neutralize the
excess charge on aircraft. If the thrust is constant it can be stated that the number of Rogue Ions returning to the aircraft
is equal to Rogue Ions leaving the aircraft resulting in a constant pull against the direction of travel. Then the Rogue
electrostatic pull is directly proportional to the thrust produced by the aircraft –
5. RESULTS
The aim of this experiment was to verify the possibility of a Ion Propulsion being used in the atmospheric
conditions, the resultant was a success though the thrust was small but had enough magnitude to be detected by a thin
sheet of paper even with a simple setup which was not in any way designed to perform at its best, also a second technique
of forced evaporation was used to confirm the phenomena, given that best performance for any given parametersof ion
propulsion system was not the aim of the experiment in the first place.
6. DISSCUSSIONS
This experiment dealt only with possibility of working, theory & not the numerical parameters that still yet
needs to be measured & calculated to establish a firm foundation for accurate representation of the performance. Due to
lack of sensitive measuring equipments the experiment was conducted with only theoretical aspects in mind. Experiment
needs to be performed later in time for the data that could help in supporting the theory. Although this experiment dealt
with positive & negative corona at the electrode (emitter of Ions) significant differences were not seen, maybe primarily
due to precise & accurate measuring instruments being not used, more research in this regard is needed.
7. CONCLUSION
The experiment establishes that ion propulsion in atmospheric conditions is possible with various conditions
was discussed& problems. The Ion Propulsion technology is still in its infancy & as time marches on it may be bound to
dwarf the chemical propulsion that is currently a juggernaut in earth-to-orbit propulsion. Although the technology that
exists today was mainly designed with operation in vacuum in mind, design for operation in ambient conditions is
lacking. The development of Ion Propulsion is primarily undertaken by governmental agencies & private participation is
needed in the technology being used in atmospheric conditions.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank all the people who contributed in some way to the work described in this paper. First &
foremost I would like to thank my parents for encouraging & providing me the resources. Also, to thank my co-authors -
Prof. Dr. T Yella Reddy, Dean of my institute for giving me the initiation to write a paper, providing suggestions&
resource material along with Prof. S Mohan & Lokesh G Reddy, Mechanical Engineering, on my first paper. I would like
to thank finally but not the least Abhishek G L, my classmate for helping by proof reading the paper.

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REFERENCES
[1]–Hisorical Introduction of Electricity, (http://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/302l/lectures/node12.html)
[2] –https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Augustin-de-Coulomb
[3]–A Critical History of Electric Propulsion: The First 50 years, EY Choueiri,
(http://alfven.princeton.edu/publications/choueiri-jpp-2004)
[4] –Ion Propulsion – 50 Years in the Making,
(https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/1999/prop06apr99_2)
[5], [10]–Mechanics and Thermodynamics of Propulsion by Phillip Hill & Carl Peterson, 2nd Edition, Thirteenth
Impression, 2016(ISBN 978-81-317-2951-9)
[6] –DAWN, NASA (http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov)
[7] –Dawn Spacecraft and Instruments, NASA (https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/spacecraft/index.html)
[8] –Electric Field as Gradient, Department of Physics, Georgia State University,
(http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/efromv.html)
[9] – Differences between Negative & Positive Corona Discharge Fed by CO in Ozone Production,M Danko,J.
Országh,etc,2011.(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242184829_Differences_Between_Negative_and_Positive_
Corona_Discharge_Fed_by_CO2_in_Ozone_Production)
[11]– Electrohydrodynamic thrust density using positive corona-induced ionic winds for in-atmosphere propulsion,
2015, Gilmore CK, Barrett SRH. (http://rspa.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/471/2175/20140912)
[12]–Multiple scales in streamer discharges, with an emphasis on moving boundary approximations, 2011, U Ebert, F
Brau, G Derks, W Hundsdofer, C-Y Kao, etc. (http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0951-7715/24/1/C01/pdf)
[13] – The Corona Discharge, its Properties and Specific Uses, 1985, M Goldman, A Goldman& RS Sigmond,
(https://www.iupac.org/publications/pac/pdf/1985/pdf/5709x1353.pdf)