A team of scientists from the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, aims to reduce the space industry’s reliance on traditional chemical rocket propulsion.
The team is developing a new type of electric propulsion magnet. It is set to test the technology aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in the coming months.
To be precise, scientists from the Paihau-Robinson Research Institute at Victoria University are developing applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic (AF-MPD) thrusters. These use an applied magnetic field to accelerate ions to very high speeds.
While scientists have toyed with the idea of using AF-MPD thrusters since the 1970s, the Paihau-Robinson team believes it could be the first to test the technology in real space conditions.
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