Magno-Voltron: NASA's New Electromagnetic Spacecraft

Formation flying isn't just for airshows anymore. NASA are taking a page out of Voltron's book, with the idea that for big missions the more the merrier. If those multiple spacecraft happen to lock together into a precise assembly? The more the awesomer.

Physically snapping into place might have made the Constructicons the greatest toys ever manufactured by man, but it makes less sense in space - any plan that involves thumping incredibly sophisticated systems together when the nearest repair shop is a million miles away isn't very good. Using thrusters to maintain relative position is also a no-no - such precise trajectories require lots of fine-tuning, and the finite fuel reserves for the gas-guzzling maneuvering jets would quickly run dry.

Researchers at MIT's Space Systems Laboratory (SSL) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have come up with schemes to use electromagnets to hold the spacecraft in tight formation. By setting up the correct field, individual bodies will naturally move to the correct position - and automatically be corrected by magnetic forces should they drift out of that sweet spot. The schemes call for superconducting coils, generating the required fields for far less energy than merely regular-conducting metals (or as we call them, "metals").

Spacecraft design would have to account for this large scale field. Some of you might remember losing valuable data (or favorite games) by leaving a floppy disk on top of your monitor. If you don't know what a floppy is, ask your parents, but be prepared for a wash of nostalgia and a lecture of how you, in fact, don't know how good you've got it (you don't). Some systems could be electromagnetically shielded ('hardened') against intrusive fields, a technique already used in certain military equipment. Others could be fitted with small electromagnets generating a counter-field, creating a a field-free bubble around the instrument.

Formation flying is essential for such bold schemes as the Terrestrial Planet Finder, hunting for human-compatible planets, or the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) with an objective so grand it makes even "finding other places for humanity in space" look small minded. Precisely aimed lasers beamed over space can probe the very fabric of the universe for gravitational waves, ripples in spacetime itself.

NASA have not yet commented on whether such magnetically-linked craft would gain a new, more intimidating name like "Superion" when they join together. So we are forced to assume that they will.

Posted by Luke McKinney.

Superconducting shuttle swarm