Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
How do you engineer propellantless propulsion technology? Aerospace engineer Andrew “Drew” Aurigema discusses his work engineering and testing Exodus Effect thrusters, based on concepts including bound-ion charges and asymmetrical electrostatic pressure.
Official Website:
https://www.ept.space/
Andrew is co-founder and Chief Engineer of Exodus and co-inventor, with physicist Dr. Charles Buhler, of U.S. Patent 11,511,891, System and Method for Generating Forces Using Asymmetrical Electrostatic Pressure. The Exodus team reports that it has constructed, tested, and documented more than 1,500 thruster test articles in air, oil, and vacuum.
In this in-depth interview, Drew takes us inside the experimental program. How are the thrusters constructed? How is force measured? How does the team attempt to exclude ion wind, electrostatic attraction, thermal drift, cable forces, vibration, and other possible sources of false-positive results? And what has changed now that Exodus has a dedicated research laboratory and is beginning to build a professional engineering team?
We also discuss free charge versus bound charge, electrets, dielectric materials, electrostatic-field interactions, AC and RF thruster concepts, persistent force after charging, vacuum testing, independent replication, and the challenge of scaling from millinewton experiments toward a self-contained, Newton-class propulsion system.
Could the Exodus Effect eventually provide long-duration propulsion for satellite maneuvering, orbital station-keeping, lunar transportation, or deep-space missions? Or will more rigorous testing reveal a conventional explanation for the measured forces?
The central question is simple but enormous: Has Exodus found a practical way for electric fields to produce usable thrust without consuming propellant—and what experiment would definitively prove or disprove it?
Links and resources
Exodus Propulsion Technologies
https://www.ept.space/
Andrew Aurigema — Biography and Research Overview
altpropulsion.com/people/andrew-aurigema
Exodus Effect — Interviews, Demonstrations and Research Coverage
altpropulsion.com/exodus
Andrew Aurigema — Propellantless Propulsion Vacuum Test
altpropulsion.com/propellantless-propulsion-vacuum-chamber-test
U.S. Patent 11,511,891 — System and Method for Generating Forces Using Asymmetrical Electrostatic Pressure
patents.google.com/patent/US11511891B2/en
Exodus Propulsion Technologies on LinkedIn
linkedin.com/company/exoduspropulsion
How do you engineer propellantless propulsion technology? Aerospace engineer Andrew “Drew” Aurigema discusses his work engineering and testing Exodus Effect thrusters, based on concepts including bound-ion charges and asymmetrical electrostatic pressure.
Official Website:
https://www.ept.space/
Andrew is co-founder and Chief Engineer of Exodus and co-inventor, with physicist Dr. Charles Buhler, of U.S. Patent 11,511,891, System and Method for Generating Forces Using Asymmetrical Electrostatic Pressure. The Exodus team reports that it has constructed, tested, and documented more than 1,500 thruster test articles in air, oil, and vacuum.
In this in-depth interview, Drew takes us inside the experimental program. How are the thrusters constructed? How is force measured? How does the team attempt to exclude ion wind, electrostatic attraction, thermal drift, cable forces, vibration, and other possible sources of false-positive results? And what has changed now that Exodus has a dedicated research laboratory and is beginning to build a professional engineering team?
We also discuss free charge versus bound charge, electrets, dielectric materials, electrostatic-field interactions, AC and RF thruster concepts, persistent force after charging, vacuum testing, independent replication, and the challenge of scaling from millinewton experiments toward a self-contained, Newton-class propulsion system.
Could the Exodus Effect eventually provide long-duration propulsion for satellite maneuvering, orbital station-keeping, lunar transportation, or deep-space missions? Or will more rigorous testing reveal a conventional explanation for the measured forces?
The central question is simple but enormous: Has Exodus found a practical way for electric fields to produce usable thrust without consuming propellant—and what experiment would definitively prove or disprove it?
Links and resources
Exodus Propulsion Technologies
https://www.ept.space/
Andrew Aurigema — Biography and Research Overview
altpropulsion.com/people/andrew-aurigema
Exodus Effect — Interviews, Demonstrations and Research Coverage
altpropulsion.com/exodus
Andrew Aurigema — Propellantless Propulsion Vacuum Test
altpropulsion.com/propellantless-propulsion-vacuum-chamber-test
U.S. Patent 11,511,891 — System and Method for Generating Forces Using Asymmetrical Electrostatic Pressure
patents.google.com/patent/US11511891B2/en
Exodus Propulsion Technologies on LinkedIn
linkedin.com/company/exoduspropulsion
