Superconductors to provide new levels of stability and control in large structures and satellite formations in space

Cornell Receives Northrop Grumman F6 Funding to Continue Magnetic Flux Pinning Research

Ithaca, NY – April 1, 2008 – By taking advantage of the surprising physics of magnetic flux pinning, spacecraft components could hover a fraction of an inch to several feet apart without electrical power. Flux-pinning superconductor materials resist movement within magnetic fields, and flux pinning can be turned on or off simply by cooling or heating the superconductors. As a result, modules consisting of magnets and flux-pinning superconductors can maintain the position and orientation of spacecraft components. Furthermore, flux-pinned connections are stable without active feedback control, which typically requires on-board computers and power.

Dr. Mason Peck from the Cornell University College of Engineering is continuing his research begun in 2005 with recent funding from F6 contractor Northrop Grumman Corporation, where magnetic flux pinning holds special promise for eliminating the complexity of mechanical connectors currently designed into space systems for docking, attaching, and configuring components. F6 (Future, Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying Spacecraft United by Information eXchange) is a new spacecraft design strategy being studied by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA is the central research and development organization for the Department of Defense (DOD).

Peck’s use of magnetic flux pinning complements a related technology, EMFF (electromagnetic formation flight), by providing passive stability for formations of spacecraft in close proximity (less than 1 meter). It also eliminates power, software, and electronics hardware as single points of failure for controlling the positions of nearby components. Electromagnetic actuation can provide coarse or fine control of the formation. In addition, the technology provides a passive bumper that can guarantee no contact while components are maneuvering in space.

Since flux-pinning can be turned off or on simply by heating or cooling the superconductors, flux-pinning modules make reconfigurable space stations and adaptable satellite architectures possible without the mass, power, and risk typically required. In a sense, flux-pinned modules are “like virtual building blocks,” according to Dr. Peck, “in that they require no power to hover near one another but can be fixed in place without mechanical contact. This concept blurs the distinction between modular spacecraft and formation flying, between spacecraft bus and payload, and to some extent between empty space and solid matter.”

Robotic arms equipped with flux-pinning modules could easily manipulate and position delicate components without mechanical contact. Because flux-pinning connections are formed without touching, the technology overcomes the risk of mechanical contacts fusing together where nearby electrical components can arc. Non-mechanically linked, but physically stable space structures, telescope mirrors, or even viscous “clouds” of magnetically connected matter could be formed and controlled in space.

In 2005 Peck and colleagues created modular superconducting magnetic building blocks that could find each other and dock without active control or touching, while remaining fixed in rotational and translational degrees of freedom. Cornell originally received NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Phase I and Phase II awards funding for his magnetic flux pinning research.

For more information contact:

Mason A. Peck, Ph.D.
Cornell University,
Ithaca, NY.
Tel: 607/255-4023
Email: mp336@cornell.edu