There doesn’t happen to be any rocket scientists here, are there? No really??????

Alright, cards on the table — I’m not a physicist or an engineer. I’ve just got one of those brains that won’t leave me alone when it latches onto a “what if topic”.

For the last couple months I’ve been chatting with ChatGPT about plasma/laser/magnetic propulsion ideas. Half the time I don’t know what I’m talking about, but the conversations have been wild.
It knows all about physics and tells me why or why not my ideas will or will not work using it's knowledge.

Here’s the itch I can’t shake:
I’ve learned that most plasma/ion thruster experiments use noble gases like argon or xenon. Makes sense — they’re stable, safe, and predictable.

But has anyone ever tried ozone (O₃) or oxygen-rich plasmas for propulsion? I get that ozone is nasty for lungs and chews up hardware and did I mention kill you?, but doesn’t the reactivity maybe couple with plasma and magnetic fields in a way argon just… can’t?

I even found, well ChatGPT did:

A U.S. patent (US6145298A) describing an ion engine that uses oxygen and creates ozone as a byproduct.

A 2024 simulation study suggesting oxygen species (O and O₂) could outperform xenon in certain plasma thrusters.

So now I’m wondering: is ozone a complete no-go for rock-solid reasons, or is it just something avoided because it’s “too messy” compared to inert gases?

So chatGPT found me a forum for rocket scientist, believe it or not, but they have a gate keeper question that neither I nor ChatGPT can figure out the answer to.
So without the magic handshake answer I can't ask real NASA rocket science type this question.

So maybe if you don't know about plasma thrust stuff maybe you know what Mechzilla's arms called???
The answer isn't arms I will say. LOL

Thanks for any responses all are welcome. :-)

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Lostpoet · M

I know they are always discovering new compounds maybe there's a safer molicule of that gas.

Dainbramadge · 56-60, M

@Lostpoet Well I have found out that they use Argon because it is stable, doesn't kill you and I guess is easier on the equipment.
But when I brought up the Ozone as a primary gas the chat went bonkers. LOL
He had like 12 reasons that could actually pan out and most had to do with unpredictability.
It's really wild how I got on this topic too but that's for later. LOL
So know Booker has given me the gatekeeper password I needed I am actually going to post that question to real Nasa rocket scientist. LOL.
I had to try it out here tho cause you just never know what a rocket scientist could be.
Good to hear from you brother.

Lostpoet · M

@Dainbramadge isn't there rare forms of the elements like helium13 or something like that Where they can stabilize an unstable gas enough to work with.

Lostpoet · M

@Dainbramadge Nice 🙂 to hear from you too brother.

Dainbramadge · 56-60, M

@Lostpoet That's thinking out of the box brother.
I was wondering about mixing the argon with the ozone so as to minimize the bad stuff a little and still be able to see if the Ozone was going to be the wild card that makes Plasma thrust an actual usable propulsion system in the atmosphere as well as out of it.
Now here is the catchy part. See what I am trying to do is embed plasma into a laser beam. That laser would have to be inside a magnetic field so as to keep the plasma from dissipating. So as a choke to get the plasma to increase the density of the laser itself it has to be contained in a gas chamber. Apparently the density of the gas also effects the density of the laser. But, inside that magnetic field and inside that in the gas chamber is the argon which adds nothing to the conglomeration. But if it were Ozone instead it adds free radicals as well as creates extra oxygen molecules an din turn makes propulsion.
SO I might as well state at this point in the game, I am kind of the third party to this thought. In my ADHD brain there are apparently things that happen unbenounced to me. One of those things is this. So I literally woke up this morning wondering why we couldn't use Ozone. No idea why I wondered that but it looks like it may turn out to be a wild card.