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The Conversation USA

Inspired by sci-fi, an airplane with no moving parts and a blue ionic glow

  • Written by Steven Barrett, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A time-lapse image showing the plane flying across a gymnasium.Steven Barrett, MIT, CC BY-ND

Since their invention more than 100 years ago, airplanes have been moved through the air by the spinning surfaces of propellers or turbines. But watching science fiction movies like the “Star Wars,” “Star Trek” and “Back to the...

Read more: Inspired by sci-fi, an airplane with no moving parts and a blue ionic glow

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