US 12,345,244 B2
Systems and methods for propulsion of an object in a vacuum
Jonathan Huffman, Houston, TX (US)
Assigned to Orbital Arc Corporation, , DE (US)
Filed by Orbital Arc Corporation, Lewes, DE (US)
Filed on Feb. 23, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/585,369.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/451,975, filed on Mar. 14, 2023.
Prior Publication US 2024/0309858 A1, Sep. 19, 2024
Int. Cl. F03H 1/00 (2006.01); B64G 1/40 (2006.01)
CPC F03H 1/0037 (2013.01) [F03H 1/0025 (2013.01); B64G 1/413 (2023.08)] 7 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for creating propulsion in a vacuum, the system comprising:
an ionizer chip with a plurality of open pore channels extending through a thickness of the ionizer chip, a proximal end of each of the open pore channels being configured to receive a fuel gas in gas phase;
a plurality of high aspect ratio electrically conductive tips to which a positive electrical bias is applied in operation, configured such that a single electrically conductive tip extends axially within a corresponding open pore channel, whereby each electrically conductive tip is configured to generate positive ions by field effect ionization from the fuel gas that passes through the corresponding open pore channel;
a grounded or negatively biased gate electrode on a distal surface of the ionizer chip;
a plurality of ionization regions, each of the ionization regions being positioned between the distal end of the corresponding open pore channel and a respective electrically conductive tip, wherein the fuel gas is constrained by the open pore channels to flow within a respective ionization region as the fuel gas flows from the proximal end of the corresponding pore channel towards the distal end of the corresponding open pore channel around the respective tip such that the positive ions are created from the fuel gas and accelerated through the grounded or negatively biased gate electrode by the same electric field that produces the positive ions.