Atmospheric ions can be harvested as a source of clean, renewable electricity, day and night, through a revolutionary nanomaterial breakthrough called Ion Harvesting Technology, and the author has witnessed it in action.

Future production versions of Ion Harvesting Technology may generate electricity cheaper than solar PV, possibly up to 65x cheaper, according to a Ph.D. technical report entitled “Analysis of Economic Viability of Ion Power Generation” authored by Dr. Philip Metzger, NASA Kennedy Space Center’s 2011 Scientist/Engineer of the Year.

Ion Power Group, LLC, www.IonPowerGroup.com, achieved this impressive nanomaterial breakthrough by discovering that specific forms of carbon are effective at extracting electricity from ions native to a planet’s atmosphere. Tests on Earth have generated clean electricity to power batteries, lights, motors, electronics, produce hydrogen & oxygen gas via water electrolysis, and even 120VAC/60hZ “house style” current solely from electricity derived from atmospheric ions. With patents awarded by 33 countries, https://ionpowergroup.com/patents/

Ion Power Group is considered the world’s leading pioneer in this novel means of power generation.

Dr. Metzger’s report further states that Ion Power generation “... would produce somewhere between $62 Billion and $150 Billion annual benefit to the US economy. This wide range provides very strong confidence that Ion Power is economically viable.” When extrapolated to other countries, the figure approaches $500 Billion annually. https://ionpowergroup.com/how-it-works-on-earth/

Benjie Balser, the CEO of Ion Power Group explains it this way. “Production of electricity on Earth and Mars, day and night, can be accomplished by simply elevating Ion Power Group’s carbon nanofiber into the atmosphere. The enabling innovation is our carbon nanofiber that is exceptionally effective at harvesting electricity from atmospheric ions. There are 10 planets and moons in our solar system with atmospheres that are candidates for power generation via Ion Harvesting.”

“Ion Power Group’s Ion Harvesting Technology has successfully achieved Technology Readiness Level 3 as defined by NASA in field tests on Earth, and should prove even more effective at producing electricity in Mars’s ion-rich atmosphere,” says Research Leader, Clint McCowen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=36&v=WpF1RMzK0G4

Senior Scientist and Atmospheric Physicist at the German Aerospace Center, Dr. Andreas Baumgaertner, published in his technical report, “Power to Mars,” an evaluation of Ion Harvesting for power generation on Mars. His technical summary concludes, “Ion Harvesting is thus a strong technology option for power generation. It has been shown here that Ion Power and solar power can be combined to provide a reliable and safe power generation concept.” https://ionpowergroup.com/how-it-works-on-mars/

Testing of Ion Harvesting on Mars may occur soon, since in June 2019 Ion Power Group accepted an offer from an aerospace group offering to purchase payload space aboard a future Mars rocket ship to deploy two Ion Power Group Ion Harvesting experiments for functional testing. A formal announcement is anticipated in late 2020.

FORBES uses the word ‘elegant’ when describing Ion Harvesting Technology. “… Ion’s (Ion Power Group’s) solution seems more elegant than – or at least a more elegant companion to – the Kilopower nuclear reactors currently being championed by NASA.”

“About $1.2m of private funding launched this project and we’re presently raising additional funds through a RegD 506(c) offering”, said CEO Balser.

Ion Harvesting Technology offers to expand humanity’s energy mix on Earth with cheap renewable electricity and solve some of the most daunting power challenges facing the aerospace industry in exploring and colonizing selected planets and moons. In May 2019, Ion Power Group was, for the third time since 2018, selected to NASA iTech’s TOP-25 semifinalists—iTech being the NASA-sponsored competition that judges the merits of new aerospace technologies.