Ion drive space engine used on aircraft for first time

Imagine an aircraft engine that has no moving parts, produces no harmful exhaust and makes no noise. That’s what researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US have created by adapting a technology previously only used in spacecraft so it can power flight over the Earth.

Ion drives have been used on spacecraft since the 1960s and work by firing out a stream of charged particles that propel the vessel forward. As well as being carbon neutral, they are less likely to go wrong and cheaper to maintain than conventional engines because they have no propellers, turbines or fuel pumps to break down. The only problem was that, in Earth’s gravity, the thrust produced by the drive wasn’t enough to overcome the weight of the batteries needed to power them. Until now.

The timely new research, published in Nature, paves the way for the possibility of silent drones in the very near future. With further advances in materials and power conversion, silent crewed aircraft and eventually commercial flights could also be on the horizon. In fact, this breakthrough could be the first step in changing how we all fly around the world in the future.

What did they name this aircraft? The Ion Maiden ?

WOW! Absolutely Brilliant!!! 

 They have to ion a few bugs out of it yet..  A plasma engine has been on the books for  about 50 years. It is for interstellar travel  once you get out of earths gravity.Low thrust but not a great mass of fuel required and gradually keep accelerating.  Nev

 They have to ion a few bugs out of it yet..   Nev

I wonder about the efficiency... P=IV and at say 100 amps and 40,000 volts thats 4 million Watts.

Here is a failing of my brainpower though...  how does the thrust actually get applied to the airframe?

I know it does, but just how and where?   But overall, wow!

I wonder about the efficiency... P=IV and at say 100 amps and 40,000 volts thats 4 million Watts.

Here is a failing of my brainpower though...  how does the thrust actually get applied to the airframe?

 

I know it does, but just how and where?   But overall, wow!

I've read elsewhere about the effect forgot where, and there was more emphasis on the positive vs negative for use as thrust.

Bernoulli