The physicist Marius Chirita, researcher scientist at INCEMC Timisoara, Romania, and the group led by him (Virgil Rotaru, Mircea Nicolaescu, Mihai Marghitas), achieved a unique performance at INCEMC Timisoara, Romania: the first flight of a “drone” type device with toroidal ion thrusters, flight registered on 01.05.2023.
As Dr. Marius Chirita tells us, the first flight recorded at INCEMC Timisoara, Romania, brings us much closer to some applications related to ion propulsion.
The fuel is atmospheric air that is ionized and accelerated under the influence of the electric field between two electrodes, one cylindrical and one toroidal. This device has no thermal, magnetic, or sound signature!
The patent application for toroidal counter-electrode for ionic thruster was registered in 2022 at OSIM and is currently being sent to the EUROINVENT 15th European Exhibition of Creativity and Innovation, Iasi, Romania, 11-13 Mai 2023 (www.euroinvent.org).
This achievement was done through the CCCDI project, PN-III-P2-2.1-PED-2019-3646, won by Fiz. Dr. Marius Chirita from INCEMC Timisoara, through the direct competition organized by the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, within PNCDI III, in 2019.
The project title is: “Experimental validation of ion propulsion under laboratory conditions. Demonstrator: “Rotary Ion Engine Flight System”. (I.P.)
