“3D printing technology is also constantly improving, potentially making it possible to implement in the near future even better systems that have smaller features and are made of better materials,” he says. “We are on track to producing the best possible hardware that a lot more people can afford.”
its hype ware. they wanna store ion propelant on the craft. just seems lesss efficent than old means.
the 3d printing of the tiny part is the real show of the article
The pure ion jet was a surprise, and the research team still isn’t entirely sure how it was produced, although Velásquez-García and his colleagues think the zinc oxide nanowires “are the secret sauce,” he says. “We believe it has something to do with the way the charge is injected and the way the fluid interacts with the wire material as it transports the fluid to the emission sites.”
So much of science is a surprise. Happy accident and serendipity
(post is archived)