https://askpius.com/2022/02/27/plasma-propulsion-engine-and-space-travel/

Plasma engine was first used in 1997 in a real-time 3D video called headspin and was developed by Headspine technologies.

A plasma propulsion engine is an electric propulsion system that uses quasi-neutral plasma to create thrust.

While Ion thruster engines, on the other hand, create thrust by extracting an ion current from a plasma source and accelerating it to high velocities using grids/anodes.

sample of a thruster engine
thruster Engine
What are Plasma Thrusters
the literature way of defining plasma thruster is very secluded from other engines. Plasma thrusters are usually designated as “ion engines”.

Plasma rockets normally do not employ high voltage grids or anodes/cathodes to accelerate charged particles in plasma but rather use internal currents and potentials to accelerate the ions, resulting in a lower exhaust velocity due to the lack of high accelerating voltages.

It’s of worthy note to know Plasma engines are better suited for interplanetary missions.

Ion Engines
An ion thruster, ion drive, or ion engine is a form of electric propulsion used for spacecraft propulsion. It creates thrust by accelerating ions using electricity.

An ion thruster ionises a neutral gas by extracting some electrons out of atoms, creating a cloud of positive ions.

ion thruster engine

read more on ion thrusters by clicking here

Current uses of Plasma Engine
Plasma engines have a substantially greater specific impulse (Isp) value than most other forms of rocket technology.

Plasma engines have received active flight time and usage on missions. In 2020, research on a plasma jet was published by Wuhan University.

However, the thrust estimates published in that paper were subsequently revealed to be approximately nine times theoretically achievable levels even if 100 per cent of the incoming microwave power were converted to thrust.

Read more here

Plasma Engine Types
there are currently different types of plasma engines worldwide, and they all have unique capabilities. Below are some examples

Magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters
A magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thruster (MPDT) is a form of electrically powered spacecraft propulsion which uses the Lorentz force (the force on a charged particle by an electromagnetic field) to generate thrust.

MPD thruster

There are two main types of MPD thrusters
Applied-Field
Applied-field thrusters have magnetic rings surrounding the exhaust chamber to produce the magnetic field

Self-Field
self-field thrusters have a cathode extending through the middle of the chamber.

Note: Various propellants such as xenon, neon, argon, hydrogen, hydrazine, and lithium have been used, with lithium generally being the best performer.

Helicon Plasma Thrusters
In spacecraft propulsion, a helicon double-layer thruster (HDLT) is a form of plasma thruster that ejects high velocity ionised gas to produce push to the vessel.

Read more here................

https://askpius.com/2022/02/27/plasma-propulsion-engine-and-space-travel/