Merged ion-electron particle beam for space applications

An apparatus for destroying objects with an electron-ion particle beam comprising,

• a positive ion source,
• a positive ion accelerator with a beam merging region therein and with an entrance side and an exit side,
• said ion source being connected to said entrance side to supply positive ions to said merging regions,
• means for pulsing said ion source with a high voltage to accelerate said ions to a particular velocity in said beam merging region,
• an electron beam source,
• means for accelerating said electrons and merging said electrons with said accelerated ions at the same velocity within said beam merging region to form a charge neutral particle beam,
• means for subjecting said merged particle beam to a magnetic field to compress said beam causing cooling thereof,
• said ion accelerator being defined by a plurality of overlapping electrodes of decreasing size, and
• pointing said accelerator toward an object to be destroyed as said particle beam emerges from the exit of said accelerator.