A new plasma thruster design breathes thin air for propellant

Choosing an orbit for a satellite always comes with trade-offs. Very low Earth orbit, between 100, 450 km, has distinct advantages. The science-journalism coverage adds useful context, while the strongest evidential footing still comes from the underlying data, papers or institutional documentation.

This matters because cosmology operates at the edge of what current instruments can measure, where systematic errors and model assumptions are never trivial. Small discrepancies between independent measurements have historically pointed toward missing physics rather than simple calibration errors, and the ongoing tension in the Hubble constant is a live example of how a persistent disagreement between methods can reshape the theoretical landscape. Each new dataset that approaches this territory with independent systematics adds real information to a problem that has resisted easy resolution for more than a decade. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Very low Earth orbit (VLEO), between 100, 450 km (62, 280 miles), has distinct advantages.

In the upper atmosphere, UV radiation splits O 2 into this aggressive, single-atom form of the gas that we all need to breathe. It collected about 94.3% of air particles (AO, argon or nitrogen in a wind tunnel test), and the efficiency dropped only 8% when subjected to a 15° tilt.

Using a birdcage antenna, similar to those used in MRIs, he designed a thruster that ensured 99% of the delivered electrical power entered the thruster. Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over 100, 000 subscribers who rely on Phys. org for daily insights.

The engine generated steady streams of plasma with only 50, 60 W of RF power, well within the capabilities of traditional spacecraft solar panels. But the use cases aren't limited to Earth.

The relevance goes beyond one dataset because even small shifts in measured parameters can matter when the field is testing the limits of the standard cosmological model. The Lambda-CDM framework describes the observable universe with remarkable economy, but its success rests on two components, dark matter and dark energy, whose physical nature remains entirely unknown. Any credible measurement that tightens or loosens the constraints on those components moves the entire theoretical enterprise forward, regardless of whether the immediate result looks dramatic on its own terms.

Mars has an atmosphere dominated by CO₂, and, according to the thesis, the system could similarly use atmospheric gas as propellant to maintain a spacecraft at an altitude of 120. Francesco Romano, RF Helicon Plasma Thruster for an Atmosphere-Breathing Electric Propulsion System (ABEP), arXiv (2026).

Because this item comes through Phys. org Space as science journalism, it should be treated as contextual reporting rather than primary evidence. Good science reporting can identify why a result matters, connect it to the wider literature and make technical work readable, but the decisive evidence remains in the original paper, dataset, mission release or technical record. That distinction is especially important when a story is later repeated by aggregators, because repetition increases visibility, not evidential strength.

The next step is to see whether the effect survives when independent surveys, different calibration strategies and tighter control of systematic uncertainties enter the picture. Programmes such as Euclid, DESI and the Rubin Observatory will deliver datasets over the next several years that cover the same parameter space with largely independent methods. If the current signal persists through those tests, its theoretical implications will become impossible to set aside.

Source