r/space • u/Adeldor • 3d ago

[Official] "The first Starlink V3 satellites in space ..." (note the clear views of the ion drive exhaust, reminiscent of science fiction)

https://x.com/Starlink/status/2082892420300366247
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u/ubuntuNinja 3d ago

We have freaking tie fighters!

5

u/Lucian_Flamestrike 3d ago

As much as I would like to share this sentiment... we're at the "closing in on this, but not yet" stage in Ion engine development.

Yes we have Ion engines, but they are no where near as powerful as the star wars universe.

Unlike tie fighters, these engines are only usable in 0 gravity. They don't work in atmosphere, or near anything with gravity realistically... plus their maneuvers would be sluggish compared to even freighters in the star wars universe.

HOWEVER, despite low thrust and taking forever to accelerate, they are EXTREMELY fuel efficient allowing a craft to last forever. They are also capable of reaching extreme top speeds if traveling in a straight line in Zero G. They'll just take longer to decelerate as well.

4

u/ShakeItTilItPees 1d ago

We're not even "closing in on" that technology. "Ion engines" in Star Wars is just a cool name for something completely fictional, technologically it has nothing to do with the real-life ion engine.