Sergey Voronin, a designer from Novosibirsk, proposed supplementing a liquid-propellant rocket engine with a linear ion accelerator. The propulsion system should operate not only on the chemical energy of the fuel.
After the combustion chamber, the combustion products pass through an ionization system and are converted into a low-temperature plasma stream.
First, the gas stream enters a preliminary conical nozzle. External high-frequency inductors create an electromagnetic field and further heat the plasma.
The next stage is a linear ion accelerator. It consists of sequentially connected ceramic cones with metallic annular inserts. High voltage is applied to them from a generator, creating an electric field.
This should further accelerate the ions, and with them, the entire stream of combustion products. The length of the linear accelerator, according to the application, should be at least 1 length of the preliminary cone.
It is proposed to place a magnetic system around the installation. It should act on electrons and compensate for the space charge of the accelerated ions.
The metallic elements of the structure are proposed to be made of tungsten, tantalum, or molybdenum and cooled with liquid or gas.
The author expects that additional electromagnetic acceleration will increase the specific impulse and reduce fuel consumption at altitudes above 50 km and in space. For now, it is an invention application, not a ready-made rocket engine.
From the editors: the concept of electromagnetic acceleration of rocket exhaust is unlikely to be viable, as it would require an amount of energy comparable to the power of a nuclear power plant. Such a weight increase in the design would completely neutralize the payload and make the system inefficient.