4 ms·

Why would an ion thruster engine not be feasible?

• throwaway09223 4y ago
  The X3 ion engine has a weight of 230kg and a thrust of 5.4N. This is about 500 times less force than is needed to propel the engine forward at 1g (even if we pretend the entire rest of the spaceship doesn't exist - in reality it would need to be thousands of times more powerful) Ion engines cannot currently produce anywhere close to this level of force. Adding more engines won't help because each engine can't even push its own weight at one gravity.
  • hinkley 4y ago
    ELI5: Ion engines are the slowest tortoise you can imagine and to feel like gravity you need the hare.