121
'Acceleration without fuel:' Revolutionary superconducting thruster harnesses Earth's magnetic field in 1st orbital test (www.space.com)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/space@mander.xyz
26 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

..."Once you have super-conducting technology available in space, you can then create very strong magnetic fields and you can use them for various use cases," he said. "You can accelerate things in space very fast or change the trajectory of a satellite completely without fuel."...

"When we go to space, we get hurt by radiation, and these superconducting magnets can create umbrellas of magnetic fields around the spacecraft to protect the interior," said Arshavsky. "So we can shield people in space from that radiation."...

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 7 points 3 months ago

Technically, it needs insulation and a way to radiate heat. I read a while back that the superconductors used in space are often wrapped in several concentric shells to avoid being exposed directly to the sun and other onboard heat sources.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent