Orbital mobility has occupied the center stage in the space industry last year, and the risk capitalists directed huge amounts in startups that develop technology for fast satellite operations. Therefore, it is not surprising that one of the latest bids MagdriveStartup based in the UK, which says its electric drive system will provide a larger thrust in a smaller form of form than anything else on the market.
Space aircraft designers must consider numerous compromises when buying or designing propulsion systems. Chemical systems have a high thrust but low specific impulse or efficiency, while electric drive (EP) is very effective but creates low thrust. Magdrive has developed an EP system that uses a solid metal drive to generate high -energy plasma, with the same high specific impulse as the chemical system, but an increase in size in suppression and reducing the size of the mass, said the co -founder of the company and the Mark Stokes CEO.
This means that spacecraft operators can use electricity for a whole new mission class, without the need for resorting to more severe and more expensive chemical thrusters. It will allow the company to “eat the electric drive market for breakfast and then come to a chemical drive lunch,” Stokes said.
“A lot of the future of the space industry will be based on the fact that they can be transmitted to the satellites,” he envisaged in a recent interview with Techcrunch. Usually satellites are launched with only enough fuel to maintain their orbit during the life of the mission. But a more efficient drive could unlock new opportunities – such as permanent rendezav and proximity operations for recording or satellite servicing of missions, maneuvers to reduce the risk of collision on orbit and “stohastic movement” or unpredictable orbit to make defense and intelligence is incomplete .
Orbital mobility, sometimes referred to as the “dynamic space operation” Pentagon leader, has become a huge area of interest to the Ministry of Defense. Magdrive was one of the six startups selected for the ACCELLER HIperspace Challenge Space Force last year.
One of the biggest advantages with Magdrive’s technology is scalability, cattle says: both first startup products, systems called Rogue and larger Warlock, can be deployed to a combination network, or they can literally be built in larger shape factors – the company develops “Super Magdrive” which is the size of the dishwasher.
Since Stokes and CTO Thomas Clayon founded a company in 2019, Magdrive has now moved to a team of at least 20 and prepares to demonstrate their first two full rogues on the orbit this June. He picked up $ 1.8 million (£ 1.4 million) seeds Led by the Fund of the founder 2020 and about $ 10 million in non-dilute scholarships to come where it is now, Stokes said. To go further – producing our first commercial products along with a continuation of research and development, employment and even opening a US branch, with a office in Los Angeles – the company has closed a new $ 10.5 million funding round.
Startup, who founded Stokes with physicist Thomas Clayson in 2019, sees an advanced drive as a kind of infrastructure that will allow further growth of the space industry in the coming years. Rogue and Warlock are designed for multiple use, using metals such as aluminum and copper that can be found in space, which could be a differential at a long time horizon.
“We can use materials that are already in the universe to encourage Magdrive as its propulsion, while everyone else, chemical and electric, in the whole range of things, must bring their fuel from the ground every time,” Stokes said. “It’s like the construction of a new train every time you leave the station. This way you don’t build railways.”
This new round of financing was led by the Swiss Fund of the Redalpine, with participation from the Ballerion Fund, founder, Alumni Ventures, Outleise Ventures, 7percent and Entrepreneurs. After the first orbital demonstration this summer, Magdrive wants to fire the Warlock system 2026 and Super Magdrive 2027.
“This is a key thing: all these new missions are seeing everything to move as much as possible and not necessarily as quickly as possible, not necessarily last as long as possible.… In those five years [of operational life]How much can you move? “Stokes said.” What we bring is an improvement only as much as you maneuver in those five years. ”