Let the new space race begin!
Europe has gone and got themselves a plasma thruster for it this time.
“Essentially the concept exploits a natural phenomenon we see taking place in space,” says Dr Roger Walker of ESA’s Advanced Concepts Team. “When the solar wind, a ‘plasma’ of electrified gas released by the Sun, hits the magnetic field of the Earth, it creates a boundary consisting of two plasma layers. Each layer has differing electrical properties and this can accelerate some particles of the solar wind across the boundary, causing them to collide with the Earth’s atmosphere and create the aurora.”
It’s still in early testing, but it’s close enough that Richard Branson will probably try strapping one to the back of a 747 any day now.