Emission-free flying a step closer with Chinese plasma thruster

A plasma-thruster prototype, built by a team from the Institute of Technological Sciences at Wuhan University, uses only air and electricity to generate propulsion with an efficiency comparable to a commercial jet engine (pic) under laboratory conditions. — Jorge Lascar/Visual hunt/CC BY

Chinese scientists said they developed a plasma-thruster prototype that might one day lessen the aviation industry’s reliance on fossil fuel, bringing air travel free of carbon emissions a step closer to reality.

The device, built by a team from the Institute of Technological Sciences at Wuhan University, uses only air and electricity to generate propulsion with an efficiency comparable to a commercial jet engine under laboratory conditions. The team used the technology to lift a 1kg steel ball over a quartz tube with a diameter of 24mm, it said in a paper published on May 5.