Can an ion drive cause an aurora?
In near future a large spaceship is built. It is nuclear powered, has a crew of two dozen, and is propelled by an advanced ion drive like VASIMR.
The Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) is an electromagnetic thruster under development for possible use in spacecraft propulsion. It uses radio waves to ionize and heat a propellant. Then a magnetic field accelerates the resulting plasma to generate thrust (plasma propulsion engine). It is one of several types of spacecraft electric propulsion systems.
The ship departs to Mars from Low Earth orbit.
Will the engine exhaust cause an aurora?
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/128385. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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