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He suggests that a network of channels etched in silicon beneath the thrusters Vibram Five Fingers Kso carry the nanoparticle slurry from storage tanks and distribute it so that it flows to the base of each thruster channel (see Diagram, page 43). Here an electrode will charge the nanoparticles and the electric field created by electrodes in the wall of (he channel will pull the charged particles out of the fluid, and accelerate them Men Vibram FiveFingers KSO Black-Black Shoes the thruster channel. The carrier fluid would be pumped back to the storage tanks to be recycled. Gilchrist reckons that the nanoFETs should be able to achieve an energy efficiency of more than 90 per cent - almost twice as efficient as existing electric propulsion systems - meaning that only 10 percent Men Vibram FiveFingers KSO Blue-Black Shoes the electrical energy gathered by a craft's solar panels will go to waste. He also calculates that by using nanopartides of different sizes, the thrusters can be made to operate in a variety of modes to suit different stages of a mission. Long, thin carbon nanotubes, for instance, give relatively low thrust Men Vibram FiveFingers KSO Grey-Camo Shoes make highly efficient use of the available energy, says Gilchrist's doctoral student Tom Liu, while short stubby tubes give the reverse. Both might be useful in different circumstances. For cruising in deep space, you don't need much thrust but you want to make the most of the available propellant, Liu says. "If you enter a planet's gravitational influence, or if you need to perform an emergency manoeuvre, you could shift to shorter, wider tubes to get higher thrust."