An airplane with no moving parts has flown a distance of 60 meters. Is that a big deal? It is if you consider that on a cold December day in 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright’s first airplane changed the world when it flew a distance of only 37 meters. What new ideas could a solid-state airplane with no jet or internal combustion engine lead to?

Steven Barrett is an aeronautics professor at MIT. He has been leading a team of researchers investigating “ionic wind” propulsion for more than 5 years. He tells The Guardian the inspiration for the research came straight from watching episodes of Star…Click here for full article.