What are the hurdles in constructing a plasma engine for planetary use?

I mean, non-spacecraft use...a plasma generated by using simply the air in the atmosphere to generate thrust, in say, airplanes. Why is it only useful for spacecraft? not enough thrust?|||for terrestrial applications:generating the required amount of plasma.


to overcome atmospheric drag,you would need a lot of it.


accelerating the plasma to a useful velocity? most likely magnetism.


this would require a massive amount of power(gigawatts)


scramjets and ionic propulsion are two completly different


animals.|||not enough thrust --- power --- energy








your only dealing with charged particles and not large amounts of gases|||The containment of the plasma is also an issue. You can use magnetics but you are using a lot of energy. more than you get out|||In space, you can get away with the tiny amount of thrust generated by the extremely efficient ion engines, because you have plenty of time to increase your orbit without air friction getting in the way.





In the atmosphere, ion engines are essentially useless, because aerodynamic drag bleeds away your speed much faster than the weak thrust of the engine can replenish it.