Ionic Wind Thrusters Demonstrate High Efficiency

A mighty wind
MIT News, 3 April 2013
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/ionic-thrusters-0403.html

Now researchers at MIT have run their own experiments and found that ionic thrusters may be a far more efficient source of propulsion than conventional jet engines. In their experiments, they found that ionic wind produces 110 newtons of thrust per kilowatt, compared with a jet engine’s 2 newtons per kilowatt. The team has published its results in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.

Also see: Performance Characterization of Electrohydrodynamic Propulsion Devices.