US Patent Issued to U.S. Department of Energy on June 10 for "Air-breathing plasma thruster" (New Jersey Inventor)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,325,537, issued on June 10, was assigned to U.S. Department of Energy (Washington).

"Air-breathing plasma thruster" was invented by Yevgeny Raitses (Princeton, N.J.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "One or more embodiments relates to an air-breathing plasma thruster including a thruster wall, an anode, a cathode, and at least one ring electrode. The thruster wall defines a cylindrical channel, the cylindrical channel having a first end and an opposing second end in fluid communication with the first end, where the cylindrical channel is adapted to receive incoming airflow. The anode is at the first end of the channel and the cathode is at t...