Fuel-free spacecraft propelling system based on spatial atomic oxygen and propelling method

A spacecraft propulsion system comprising:

• an outer cylinder that surrounds and arranges in series, in a downstream direction, along a flow path for atomic oxygen through the spacecraft propulsion system:
• an atomic oxygen collecting device;
• an upstream magnet of a first magnetic confinement device;
• an RF generating device;
• a downstream magnet of a first magnetic confinement device;
• and
• an ion cyclotron wave heating device having an upstream magnet of a second magnetic confinement device at an upstream end of the ion cyclotron wave heating device and having a downstream magnet of the second magnetic confinement device at a downstream end of the ion cyclotron wave heating device, the second magnetic confinement device generating magnetic field lines that diverge and then converge in a radial direction from upstream to downstream within the ion cyclotron wave heating device;
• wherein the outer cylinder has an outer cylinder upstream end upstream of the atomic oxygen collecting device and an outer cylinder downstream end downstream of the downstream magnet of the second magnetic confinement device
• wherein the outer cylinder upstream end provides atomic oxygen to the atomic oxygen collecting device, wherein the atomic oxygen collecting device increases a pressure of the atomic oxygen thereby providing pressurized atomic oxygen through the upstream magnet of the first magnetic confinement device to the RF generating device that generates RF radiation to ionize the pressurized atomic oxygen thereby providing an oxygen plasma through the downstream magnet of the first magnetic confinement device to the upstream magnet of the second magnetic confinement device of the ion cyclotron wave heating device, wherein oxygen ions of the oxygen plasma are heated by ion cyclotron wave radiation generated by the ion cyclotron wave heating device thereby providing a heated oxygen plasma that passes through the downstream magnet of the second magnetic confinement device thereby generating propulsive force for the spacecraft,
• wherein the spacecraft propulsion system generates said propulsive force without propellant from spacecraft onboard propellant storage.