ion engine
noun
: a reaction engine deriving thrust from the ejection of a stream of ionized particles
Examples of ion engine in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The satellites separated from the rocket but at an altitude too low for the spacecraft's ion engines to overcome.
—
Stephen Clark, Ars Technica, 15 July 2024
And by my calculations, the world’s annual production of xenon—the go-to propellant for ion engines—is insufficient to carry even a single solar-power satellite to GEO.
—IEEE Spectrum, 9 May 2024
Propelled by an ion engine, the craft was the first to ever visit a dwarf planet.
—Chelsea Gohd, Discover Magazine, 11 Dec. 2018
The laser would bathe the panels in light a hundred times as bright as sunshine, keeping the ion engine running from here to Pluto, about 4 billion miles away.
—Corey S. Powell, Discover Magazine, 13 Mar. 2019
Called a gridded ion engine, this is the type that powers Dawn.
—Steve Gabriel, Discover Magazine, 10 Mar. 2015
The Dawn spacecraft used an efficient ion engine to visit Vesta (left) and Ceres (right) in this artist’s rendering.
—Corey S Powell, Discover Magazine, 30 Apr. 2015
An ion engine ionizes propellant by adding or removing electrons to produce ions.
—Amy Shira Teitel, Discover Magazine, 25 Feb. 2018
Another technique is ion beam deflection, or shooting an ion engine at an asteroid for long periods of time until the ions change the asteroid's velocity and orbit.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 23 Sep. 2022
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Stephen Clark, Ars Technica, 15 July 2024
And by my calculations, the world’s annual production of xenon—the go-to propellant for ion engines—is insufficient to carry even a single solar-power satellite to GEO.
—IEEE Spectrum, 9 May 2024
Propelled by an ion engine, the craft was the first to ever visit a dwarf planet.
—Chelsea Gohd, Discover Magazine, 11 Dec. 2018
The laser would bathe the panels in light a hundred times as bright as sunshine, keeping the ion engine running from here to Pluto, about 4 billion miles away.
—Corey S. Powell, Discover Magazine, 13 Mar. 2019
Called a gridded ion engine, this is the type that powers Dawn.
—Steve Gabriel, Discover Magazine, 10 Mar. 2015
The Dawn spacecraft used an efficient ion engine to visit Vesta (left) and Ceres (right) in this artist’s rendering.
—Corey S Powell, Discover Magazine, 30 Apr. 2015
An ion engine ionizes propellant by adding or removing electrons to produce ions.
—Amy Shira Teitel, Discover Magazine, 25 Feb. 2018
Another technique is ion beam deflection, or shooting an ion engine at an asteroid for long periods of time until the ions change the asteroid's velocity and orbit.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 23 Sep. 2022
Dictionary Entries Near ion engine
Cite this Entry
“Ion engine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ion%20engine. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share