MagBeam is the name given to an

ion propulsion An ion thruster, ion drive, or ion engine is a form of electric propulsion used for spacecraft propulsion. It creates thrust by accelerating ions using electricity. An ion thruster ionizes a neutral gas by extracting some electrons out of ...

system for space travel initially proposed by Professor Robert Winglee of the Earth and Space Sciences Department at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seatt ...

for the October 2004 meeting of the NIAC. MagBeam is different from a traditional electrostatic ion thruster in several ways, the primary one being that instead of the fuel and propulsion system being part of the payload craft, they are instead located on a platform held in

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as ...

. It has also been suggested that the technology could be used to reduce the amount of

space debris Space debris (also known as space junk, space pollution, space waste, space trash, or space garbage) are defunct human-made objects in space—principally in Earth orbit—which no longer serve a useful function. These include derelict spacec ...

in orbit around Earth.

Propulsion system

MagBeam propulsion uses a helicon plasma source to produce a plasma beam. A helicon drive consists of a

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical f ...

tube wrapped in a radio antenna, into which a gas such as

argon Argon is a chemical element with the symbol Ar and atomic number 18. It is in group 18 of the periodic table and is a noble gas. Argon is the third-most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere, at 0.934% (9340 ppmv). It is more than twice a ...

xenon Xenon is a chemical element with the symbol Xe and atomic number 54. It is a dense, colorless, odorless noble gas found in Earth's atmosphere in trace amounts. Although generally unreactive, it can undergo a few chemical reactions such as the ...

is injected. RF currents pass through the antenna creating a rapid variation of the electric field, ionizing the gas. The ionized gas is accelerated by a magnetic field to produce thrust. The helicon drive produces a tight beam of ions as the

magnetic field A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...

that accelerates them continuously expands with the plasma beam keeping them focused. This ion beam is used to push a payload which is equipped with a small amount of gas for

propellant A propellant (or propellent) is a mass that is expelled or expanded in such a way as to create a thrust or other motive force in accordance with Newton's third law of motion, and "propel" a vehicle, projectile, or fluid payload. In vehicles, the ...

such as argon or xenon, a power source and a set of

electromagnets An electromagnet is a type of magnet in which the magnetic field is produced by an electric current. Electromagnets usually consist of wire wound into a coil. A current through the wire creates a magnetic field which is concentrated in ...

to produce a mini-magnetosphere

magnetic sail A magnetic sail is a proposed method of spacecraft propulsion that uses a static magnetic field to deflect a plasma wind of charged particles radiated by the Sun or a Star thereby transferring momentum to accelerate or decelerate a spacecraft. ...

. The gas propellant is ejected into the plasma beam being directed at the craft which heats and ionizes it. The electromagnets repel this ionized gas imparting thrust upon the payload. This results in an acceleration of around 1 ms⁻², much faster than traditional ion propulsion systems. This amount of acceleration would make it possible to make a trip to

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

in as little as 50 days, reaching speeds as high as 20 km/s. The deceleration is accomplished by having another platform at the other end of the journey directing a plasma beam at the payload. By eliminating the mass of the propulsion system from the payload the MagBeam system allows for much faster acceleration and higher top speeds than conventional propulsion systems mounted on the payload. One problem with the system is the need for a sufficiently dense power-source, with a massive battery bank being proposed for an Earth-Mars Mag-Beam facility massing some 3,000 tons. The system proposed by Winglee would allow a round-trip from Earth to

in 90 days, with 11 days stop-over at Mars. A similar system for use of a particle beam to push a mini-magnetosphere magnetic sail was proposed by

Geoffrey A. Landis Geoffrey Alan Landis (; born May 28, 1955) is an American aerospace engineer and author, working for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on planetary exploration, interstellar propulsion, solar power and photovoltaics. He h ...

in 2001 as a possible propulsion system for

interstellar travel Interstellar travel is the hypothetical travel of spacecraft from one star system, solitary star, or planetary system to another. Interstellar travel is expected to prove much more difficult than interplanetary spaceflight due to the vast diffe ...

Space debris clearance

Winglee has also proposed that the technology could be used to help clear

in Earth orbit by pushing items of debris out of orbit towards the atmosphere where they could burn up safely.

References

External links

NASA site
{{spacecraft propulsion Spacecraft propulsion Magnetic propulsion devices

Propulsion system

Space debris clearance

See also

References

External links