A number of experimental methods of spacecraft propulsion are based on magnetohydrodynamics. As this kind of MHD propulsion involves compressible fluids in the form of plasmas (ionized gases) it is also referred to as magnetogasdynamics or magnetoplasmadynamics.
In such electromagnetic thrusters, the working fluid is most of the time ionized hydrazine, xenon or lithium. Depending on the propellant used, it can be seeded with alkali such as potassium or caesium to improve its electrical conductivity. All charged species within the plasma, from positive and negative ions to free electrons, as well as neutral atoms by the effect of collisions, are accelerated in the same direction by the Lorentz "body" force, which results from the combination of a magnetic field with an orthogonal electric field (hence the name of "cross-field accelerator"), these fields not being in the direction of the acceleration. This is a fundamental difference with ion thrusters which rely on electrostatics to accelerate only positive ions using the Coulomb force along a high voltage electric field.
First experimental studies involving cross-field plasma accelerators (square channels and rocket nozzles) date back to the late 1950s. Such systems provide greater thrust and higher specific impulse than conventional chemical rockets and even modern ion drives, at the cost of a higher required energy density.
Some devices also studied nowadays besides cross-field accelerators include the magnetoplasmadynamic thruster sometimes referred to as the Lorentz force accelerator (LFA), and the electrodeless pulsed inductive thruster (PIT).
Even today, these systems are not ready to be launched in space as they still lack a suitable compact power source offering enough energy density (such as hypothetical fusion reactors) to feed the power-greedy electromagnets, especially pulsed inductive ones. The rapid ablation of electrodes under the intense thermal flow is also a concern. For these reasons, studies remain largely theoretical and experiments are still conducted in the laboratory, although over 60 years have passed since the first research in this kind of thrusters.