Ion Thrusters

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Ion Thrusters use only electricity to provide propulsion to their vessels and are at their best in the vacuum of deep space.

If you have purchased the Sparks of the Future Pack DLC, you can build sci-fi skinned ion thusters with a sharper thruster flame. If you have purchased the Warfare 2 Pack DLC, you can build rectangular ion thusters with a martial look. All DLC ion thruster variants have the same functionality, recipies, and dimensions as their base game counterparts.

Gallery

  • blue ion flame
    An Ion Thruster and a Sci-Fi Ion Thruster. Ion thrusters can be recognised by their blue flame.
  • Big Blue Ship with Ion Thrusters.
    Big Blue Ship with Ion Thrusters.
  • SOTF Patrol Bot using Sci-Fi Ion Thrusters to fly by an asteroid base.
    SOTF Patrol Bot using Sci-Fi Ion Thrusters to fly by an asteroid base.
  • SOTF Shuttle with Sci-Fi Ion Thrusters.
    SOTF Shuttle with Sci-Fi Ion Thrusters.

Comparison

Compared to atmospheric thrusters and hydrogen thrusters, ion thrusters provide slightly less force (even under ideal conditions) and draw more energy from their ship's power supply. Similar to how atmospheric thrusters can only work in an atmosphere, ion thrusters work best in a vacuum: inside an atmosphere, ion thrusters only produce 20% as much thrust.

If your destination takes too long to reach in space even with ion or hydrogen thrusters, consider a Icon Block Jump Drive.png Jump Drive.

Thrust Force

Ion Thruster Size Force of thust Relative force (approx.)
Small-Grid small thruster 14.4 kN 1 1/12 1/24 1/300
Small-Grid large thruster 172.8 kN 12 1 1/2 1/25
Large-Grid small thruster 345.6 kN 24 2 1 1/12.5
Large-Grid large thruster 4300.0 kN 300 25 12.5 1

For reference, 1 Newton (unit abbreviation 'N') is defined as the unit of force necessary to accelerate 1 kg of mass at 1 m/s^2. A planet with 1 G has an acceleration from gravity of 9.81 m/s^2. Thus 9.81 N of force is required to counter the gravity of 1 kg of grid mass against 1 G of gravitational acceleration (and, of course, more is needed to actually go _up_ and carry cargo). 1 kN is 1000 N, and 1 MN is 1000 kN (1,000,000 N).

Trivia

Ion thrusters were originally the only type of thruster in Space Engineers. Once Atmospheric and Hydrogen Thrusters were added, Keen Software House decided to make these thrusters "more-end-game orientated", making them require Platinum to craft their Icon Item Thruster Components.png Thruster Components. Internally in the game files, ions are still simply called "thrust."

In real life, ion thrusters are used by spacecraft such as the Dawn probe which excites charged molecules to produce thrust. Currently, they are favored for long-distance space craft due to their fuel efficiency and reliability. However, unlike in Space Engineers, most current and practical forms of ion propulsion do consume some manner of fuel. Ion thrusters also make common appearances in many contemporary fictional settings as a slower but more efficient or reliable form of deep space propulsion.

Construction

If you have Progression enabled, you must build a cockpit or Icon Block Remote Control.png Remote Control first to unlock Ion Thrusters. They require Icon Item Thruster Components.png Thruster Components, which are expensive to craft, requiring rare metals including Platinum, which is only found on asteroids and moons. Because of this, Ion thrusters are typically only available in mid to late game.

Ion thrusters' compact design gives them more surface areas for attaching to other blocks, making them a lot easier to design and build around compared to the round Atmospheric thrusters or conveyor-dependent Hydrogen thrusters.

Ion thrusters for small grids have the smallest mass compared to their counterparts, however the inverse is true for Large grids; large grid Ion thrusters are bigger and heavier than their sister thrusters.

See Also


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