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SUPREME TECHNOLOGY

At Neutron Star Systems, we're developing a first-of-its-kind SUPerconductor based Readiness Enhanced Magnetoplasmadynamic Electric Propulsion thruster - ... that doesn't exactly roll of the tongue, which is why we prefer to call it the SUPREME thruster.

The concept is relatively simple: take industrially mature High-temperature Superconductors and integrate them into widely researched, robust Applied-field Magnetoplasmadynamic thruster technology (AF-MPD for short). With this combination, we're able to leverage the disruptive capabilities of both technologies to push human space activities further, faster. 

 

Let's show you what this means.  

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FEATURES

PROPELLANT FLEXIBILITY

Our thruster can operate on several types of propellant - heavily reducing costs and opening possibilities for new types of mission architectures.

SIMPLE & ROBUST

MPD thrusters have a simple operating principle and are more reliable than other competing high-power technologies.

HERITAGE

We're building on over 60 years of research heritage, with well-understood behaviour and proven high-power operations.

SCALABILITY

MPD thrusters are inherently suited to high powers. They scale with minimal mass penalties, thus outperforming competitors at higher mission powers.

THROTTLEABILITY

Our thruster can operate over a wide range of conditions, allowing a single thruster design to operate at the optimum conditions for any given mission.

Image by Daniel Olah

UNLOCKING NEW MISSION OPPORTUNITIES

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AF-MPD thrusters have long been considered the most suitable propulsion system for high-power applications due to their scalability, simplicity, high thrust density, high specific impulse, and inherent suitability to high-power operation. They operate by ionizing a propellant and accelerating the resulting plasma by means of a Lorentz force. This necessitates the generation of strong magnetic fields which to this date has only been done using heavy and inefficient copper electromagnets. Our technology replaces these with High-Temperature Superconductors that can generate significantly stronger magnetic fields with a much lower power consumption, lower mass, and more compact design. This also enables operation at lower discharge currents thus overcoming lifetime issues associated with MPD thrusters. This key enabling technology overcomes the obstacles which have prevented AF-MPD thrusters from reaching flight feasibility and places the technology as an economically superior competitor for high power applications.

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