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posted by n1 on Thursday July 28 2016, @03:02AM   Printer-friendly
from the spinning-in-space-in-space dept.

A story from Engadget reports:

Satellites often rely on reaction wheels, or constantly spinning flywheels, to tweak their attitudes without using precious fuel. However, they tend to be very delicate -- since they use ball bearings, they spin relatively slowly (under 6,000RPM), take up a lot of space, need tightly controlled environments and aren't very precise. Thankfully, researchers at Celeroton have a better way. They've created a magnetically levitated motor that achieves the effect of a regular reaction wheel with virtually none of the drawbacks. Since its rotor floats in a magnetic field, it can spin much faster (up to 150,000RPM) without wearing out, creating vibrations or requiring a special, lubricated environment. And given that it produces the same angular momentum as a much larger reaction wheel, it's perfect for CubeSats and any other tiny satellite where internal space is at a premium.

The motor is only a prototype at the moment, and it'll take a while before there's something commercially viable. However, multiple potential partners (including the European Space Agency) are reportedly interested. You may well see production satellites that can always adjust their positions, which might keep them useful well after conventional orbiters break down and become space junk.


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  • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday July 28 2016, @06:58AM

    by Immerman (3985) on Thursday July 28 2016, @06:58AM (#381084)

    Indeed. Gyros only allow you to adjust your orientation, NOT your position.

    Still, even without an EMdrive, ion drives are beginning to gain traction now that they've been proven practical, and they can get orders of magnitude more total impulse from the same mass of "fuel". And there are at least a few groups looking to commercialize satellite refueling as well, so these are probably a good long-term technology investment.

    They probably also allow for much lower "idling" power draw, and potentially more precise attitude adjustment (no chaotic drag from imperfect bearings), not to mention that having much less size (and presumably mass) for the same angular momentum translates to both cheaper launches and better acceleration for the same thrust.

    And of course that "less vibration" also means clearer images from space based telescopes, whether they're pointed towards Earth or away.

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