‘Mars and Back on a Tank of Gas’: NASA’s Fuel Efficiency Record Smashed

Paddy Neumann, a University of Sydney doctoral student in Physics, has developed an ionic space drive that has demolished the record for fuel efficiency.

NASA’s HIPEP system allows 9600 (+/-200) seconds of specific impulse. Paddy’s Neumann Drive, though, has measured as high as 14690 (+/-2000), shattering NASA’s original record. 

While NASA’s HIPEP runs on xenon gas, the Neumann Drive sources power from magnesium and other metals, which could be found in space junk, or even more easily via future space mining.

An electromagnetic drive being developed by NASA to operate without rocket fuel, in a vacuum, is seemingly defying the laws of physics, and raising hopes for the future of space travel.

© Flickr / NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

Electric arcs strike the fuel and cause the ions to spray, focused by a thrust-producing magnetic nozzle. The Neumann Drive runs on a rhythm of light and short bursts, thus helping to preserve fuel for potential long-range space missions.

While the Neumann Drive outperforms NASA’s fuel efficiency, it doesn’t in the acceleration category, so it would not be ideal for atmospheric exit. The drive’s technology could be appropriated to work in tandem with other drives, however, and interchange for specific legs of a voyage.

Because the metals that power Neumann’s Drive are so relatively abundant, the cost-effectiveness of the technology appears to be promising. Neumann thinks that with more research and tweaking of the technology, along with eventual advancements in space mining, this will be the magic ticket home to Earth from Mars.