New method tests magnet-powered braking for safer, more reusable spacecraft reentry

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have created a new system to test magnetohydrodynamic aerobraking for spacecraft reentering the atmosphere. Their platform generates intense magnetic fields with a powerful electromagnet as a miniature vessel is hit with a shock wave traveling at over seven kilometers per second (4.3 miles per second). The magnets reached far higher fields than previous work with permanent magnets and are a crucial stepping stone toward tests with real vessels in the atmosphere.