New Propulsion Systems.

Ionocraft This invention relates to improved heavier-than-air aircraft, and more specifically to structures which are capable of either hovering or moving in any direction at high altitudes by means of ionic discharge.

Such Ionocraft may serve as platforms which would be stationed above the earth for long periods of tinge and serve other purposes as will be explained below. The output power from microwave generators, such as magnetrons, coupled with high power capacity amplifier tubes may be beamed to the Ionocraft while airborne or the craft may carry its own power supply. A principal object of the present invention is to provide a novel Ionocraft with space provided by the structure, preferably at the center of the craft, for installation of electronic equipment and for the power plant a crew where used.

The Wingless Electromagnetic Air Vehicle (WEAV) is a heavier than air flight system in development for NASA at the University of Florida.
The aircraft uses electrodes on its undercarriage in order to ionize air, and it then propels the resultant plasma using electromagnets. The high pressure zone created underneath the aircraft is consequently used to create thrust for propulsion and stability. Electro gravities is a hypothesis proposed by Nikola Tesla and Tesla's subsequent extensive experimentation and demonstrations of the effect. The term was in widespread use by 1956. The effects of electro gravity have been searched for extensively in countless experiments since the beginning of the 20th century. To date, other than Tesla's experiments and the more recent ones reported by R. L. Talley, Eugene Podkletnov, and Giovanni Modanese, "no conclusive evidence of electro gravitic signatures has been found". Just recently, some investigation has begun in electro hydrodynamics (EHD) or sometimes electro-fluid-dynamics, a counterpart to the well-known magneto hydrodynamics, but these do not seem a priori to be related to Tesla's "electro gravitics". Electrokinetics is a term used by Thomas Townsend Brown for the electrically generated propulsive force.

The Biefeld–Brown effect was initially investigated by Thomas Townsend Brown (USA) and Dr. Paul Alfred Biefeld (Germany) in the 1920s.

Research continued through the 1950s and 1960s by Brown and other researchers. The use of this electrogravitic propulsion effect was further explored during the publicized era of gravity control propulsion research, which included the United States gravity control propulsion initiative. Research, based upon Thomas Townsend Brown's hypotheses, includes the idea that electrogravitics could be used as a means of propulsion for aircraft and spacecraft. Electrogravitic processes use an electric field to charge or, more properly, polarize an object with a specially-constructed shape. Brown's disks, for example, used an "asymmetrical" capacitor, sketches of which can be found in the literature pertaining to the Biefeld–Brown effect.

An ionocraft or ion-propelled aircraft, commonly known as a lifter or hexalifter, is an electro hydrodynamic (EHD) device (utilizing an electrical phenomenon known as the Biefeld–Brown effect) to produce thrust in the air, without requiring any combustion or moving parts. The term "Ionocraft" dates back to the 1960s, an era in which EHD experiments were at their peak. In its basic form, it simply consists of two parallel conductive electrodes, one in the form of a fine wire and another which may be formed of either a wire grid, tubes or foil skirts with a smooth round surface. When such an arrangement is powered up by high voltage in the range of a few kilovolts, it produces thrust. The ionocraft forms part of the EHD thruster family, but is a special case in which the ionisation and accelerating stages are combined into a single stage.

An EHD (electrohydrodynamic) thruster is a propulsion device based on ionic fluid propulsion, that works without moving parts, using only electrical energy.
The principle of ionic (air) propulsion with corona-generated charged particles has been known since the earliest days of the discovery of electricity, with references dating back to year 1709 in a book titled Physico-Mechanical Experiments on Various Subjects by Francis Hauksbee. The first publicly demonstrated tethered model was developed by Major De Seversky in the form of an Ionocraft, a single stage EHD thruster, in which the thruster lifts itself by propelling air downwards.
De Seversky contributed much to its basic physics and its construction variations during the year 1960 and has in fact patented his device U.S. Patent 3,130,945 , April 28, 1964). Only electric fields are used in this propulsion method. The basic components of an EHD thruster are two: an ioniser and an ion accelerator. Ionocrafts form part of this category, but their energy conversion efficiency is severely limited to less than 1% by the fact that the ioniser and accelerating mechanisms are not independent. Unlike the ionocraft, within an EHD thruster, the air gap in its second stage is not restricted or related to the Corona discharge voltage of its ionising stage. Unlike related propulsion devices, they need a fluid for their operation and cannot operate in space or vacuum. Superconductors expel magnetic field, and hence repel magnets. This repulsion can be stronger than gravity, which leads to levitation - the most fascinating manifestation of superconductivity.