US Navy Satellite To Test Earth Magnetic Field As Possible Spaceship Propellant

A miniature US Navy satellite launched into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will conduct an experiment to determine whether future spaceships can use Earth’s magnetic field as a source of propulsion, the US Naval Research Laboratory said in a press release on Tuesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik – ) A miniature US Navy satellite launched into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will conduct an experiment to determine whether future spaceships can use Earth’s magnetic field as a source of propulsion, the US Naval Research Laboratory said in a press release on Tuesday.

“TEPCE is a miniaturized satellite, known as a CubeSat. Once in space, it will divide into two objects connected by a 1-kilometer-long tether,” the release said. “The system will collect electrons from the Earth’s space environment and transmit the electrons from one object to the other.”

Naval Research Laboratory scientists who designed the satellite expect the Earth’s magnetic field to exert a force on the electrons in the ether, producing a velocity change that will affect both the magnitude and direction of the spacecraft, the release said.

“What this means is a possible new propulsion capability for spacecraft, which may decrease the amount of propellant that we have to use,” TEPCE Principal Investigator Shannon Coffey said.

SpaceX launched its heftiest rocket with 24 research satellites in the early morning hours of Tuesday.

A second satellite also developed by the Naval Research Laboratory will study weather in the upper atmosphere, the release said.

Navy researchers are studying the ionosphere because of its effects on over-the-horizon radar and other long-range communications technologies, according to the release