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They say it works "by directly converting electrical energy into thrust through controlled electromagnetic impulses", so I assume it's reacting against the Eart
by a-priori 10mo ago
They say it works "by directly converting electrical energy into thrust through controlled electromagnetic impulses", so I assume it's reacting against the Earth's magnetic field using the Lorentz force?
- nickff 10mo agoI suspect that you’re right, but I believe that I heard something about a similar ‘drive’ being used on some sort of telescope satellite in the past (though I can’t remember the specifics).
- drillsteps5 10mo agoThat would be "using Earth's magnetic field to create propulsion" and obviously would not work in deep space.
- a-priori 10mo agoYes but they also don't seem to claim it does. The use cases they talk about are orbital station-keeping and de-orbiting of satellites. So that implies near-Earth use.
- Terr_ 10mo agoTheir patents don't say anything about an external magnetic field, so at best they've accidentally rediscovered it through experimental error and don't know it yet. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45931224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45931224
- Terr_ 10mo agoUgh, wrong link https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45932763 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45932763