A researcher from the US Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory named Fatima Ebrahimi has developed a new type of propeller that can help people explore space in the future. The new thrust uses magnetic fields to shoot plasma particles from the back of a rocket that propels the spacecraft forward. Plasma is the fourth state of matter and is an electrically charged gas.
The concept accelerates the particles using magnetic reconnection, a natural process that occurs throughout the universe, including the solar surface. Magnetic reconnection is when magnetic field lines converge, suddenly separate and then reconnect, delivering significant amounts of energy. The researcher said she has been working on the concept for a while, with the original idea coming back in 2017.
The idea came to her as she sat on a deck thinking of the similarities between the car’s exhaust fumes and the high speed exhaust particles created by the National Spherical Taurus experiment at the laboratory. During surgery, the tokamak produces magnetic bubbles called plasmids, which move at about 20 kilometers per second. Ebrahimi says it seemed a lot like a stretch to her.
Current plasma propellers use electric fields to propel particles and can only produce low specific speeds. Computer simulations performed on computers in the laboratory show that the new plasma screw concept can generate exhaust gas at speeds of hundreds of kilometers per second, which is ten times faster than the other drivers.
The patch speed at the start of the spacecraft’s journey could bring the outer planets within reach of astronauts, resulting in long-distance spacecraft that take less time. The new propeller has magnetic fields with a higher strength that can increase or decrease the impact force, which can fine-tune the speed. The thruster also emits plasma particles and plasmoids, with the latter adding propulsion. The new propeller can also consist of heavy or light atoms that can adjust the thrust for the mission.