New rocket engine designs can improve spaceflight.

“Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (test photo and illustration)(Interesting engineering)

The rotating detonation rocket engine (RDE) could be the new thruster for space missions. These engines use a rotating combustion event to generate more thrust. That is why the RDE engines are under development. Those engines could serve regular space rockets. And maybe trans-atmospheric planes (TAV). Those are so-called rocket planes. The TAV vehicle can operate from regular runways. Travel in the atmosphere using regular jet engines. 

And when they must operate outside the atmosphere, those planes switch to rocket engines. These tools are required for next-generation orbital operations. The original TAV system concept uses air-breathing engines to reach trans-atmospheric orbit (TAO). There. The improved version can activate its rocket engines. 

Another remarkable tool. They are the so-called Hall-effect engines. Those engines use ion flow to give thrust. The problem with those engines is their weak thrust. But their specific impulse is very high. Hall-effect engines use recoil from ions. To move the craft forward. And the big problem is the thrust. Hall-effect thrusters require. A regular rocket. To lift off from the atmosphere. 

“Hydrosat (left) Starlight thruster fire testing (right)” (Interesting engineering)

“Hall thruster. Hall thrusters are largely axially symmetric. This is a cross-section containing that axis.” (Wikipedia, Hall-effect thruster)

“Nuclear-powered spacecraft (render)” (Interesting engineering) 

The new Hall-effect thruster, named Starlight, uses solid zinc as propellant. Those systems could also use mercury, iron, or any other ionized material as propellants. 

Maybe. It's possible. To create electromagnetic-chemical rocket engines. That also creates strong thrust. There is a possibility. To expand propellant in the combustion chamber using a laser or microwave system. The propellant will be conducted into the combustion or expansion chamber. And then lasers or microwaves expand that propellant, which can be hydrogen. 

There is also the possibility of creating an ion system. That ionizes air at the front of the wing. And then magnetic rails pull those ions from above the wing. This kind of system. It can decrease the aircraft's weight. The aircraft doesn’t need to move if it levitates. The system. It must just make gas. To flow over the top of the wing. That air, or ion flow, can also decrease the ground pressure. And if that flow is strong enough. That system can pull the aircraft into the air.  Ion systems can also act as plasma stealth. That makes aircraft invisible to radar. 

An ion cannon that launches an ion beam in the atmosphere can create an extremely strong flash. That gives those systems a stun effect. 

The interplanetary spacecraft requires nuclear reactors. Those systems create electric arcs for thrusters. That vaporizes propellant. The new Hall-effect thruster used solid zinc as propellant. That kind of thruster can open a path to the entire solar system. But the fact is that. The Hall-effect thrusters are easy to transform into space weapons. The system can shoot anions in the middle of the ion beams. Or the electron beam. The electron beam. That travels in the ion beam. Can keep those beams in their form. Those high-energy systems require nuclear reactors. 

https://interestingengineering.com/energy/nuclear-reactor-space-161m-award

https://interestingengineering.com/energy/nuclear-reactor-space-161m-award

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/zinc-hall-effect-thruster-fires-in-space

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall-effect_thruster

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatmospheric_orbit