It’s a solar-electric propulsion thruster in development at NASA, that uses xenon ions for propulsion. This engine is being considered as part of the Asteroid Initiative, a proposal to robotically capture a small near-Earth asteroid and redirect it safely to a stable orbit in the Earth-moon system where astronauts can visit and explore it.
Looks familiar? Looks surprisingly similar to Pelican and Pillar of Autumn jets.
343 should definitely sue them.
Coincidence or did they really get inspiration from Halo? It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve been influenced, they’ve made astronaut suits designed after Buzz Lightyear. 
< For reference.
That actually looks nothing like the engines on the pillar of autumn. Not to mention they would have to use different design principles. 343 didn’t come up with the design for the engines for the pillar of autumn. Not to mention they don’t have any clue the science that actually goes into designing technology like this.
> That actually looks nothing like the engines on the pillar of autumn.
Well, it’s cyan and circular - just seems coincidental to me that they’re both for the same purpose. /opinion
> 343 didn’t come up with the design for the engines for the pillar of autumn.
Bungie did it, but you know what I meant anyway. Or did somebody else design it? I’m not so knowledgeable on the subject…
> Not to mention they don’t have any clue the science that actually goes into designing technology like this.
Haha who knows? Maybe they’re science geniuses or something?
(Okay, it probably only looks like it does because it’s sci-fi and cool)
If anything bungie based their design after the older generation ion engines that nasa was developing at the time the game came out.
> If anything bungie based their design after the older generation ion engines that nasa was developing at the time the game came out.
Ah okay, sorry! Hadn’t realised that this was just an updated version of an old one.
It’s ok lol. Ion thrusters are actually quite common now because of their energy efficiency, especially in probes and things that we are starting to send to objects deeper in space. They are relatively weak and take a while to get up to speed, but they constantly accelerate meaning that you don’t need a lot of energy/thrust to reach incredible speeds which would keep increasing the longer the thing is thrusting. It could make a ~6 month mission to mars in half to a quarter of the time once we advance the technology enough.