NASA and Arx Pax team up to develop Tractor Beams

NASA is teaming up with Arx Pax to develop real life tractor beams like the ones you saw in Star Wars. An Arx Pax representative said that that Arx Pax and NASA will be working together towards designing a device that will be capable of attracting an object from a distance. The device will be able to attract as well as repel which means it will hold a satellite but won’t allow it move away or towards it. This might open up the possibilities of capturing and manipulating satellites and objects without making any direct contact. Greg Henderson, CEO, Arx Pax says, “Likely uses for this technology include manipulating various types of objects at a distance without touching them or colliding with them. One example could be moving an object, like a satellite, or holding it stationary without physical contact.” But Henderson didn’t say much about the project except that the work is in progress and more information will be shared as they reach some milestones.

Luke Murchison, project manager at NASA Langley Research Centre says, “We continue to place a firm emphasis on innovation and collaboration. We’re confident and excited about the possibilities this agreement proposes.” The fundamental tool that will be used in this project is the hover engine technology. NASA and Arx Pax aim at developing a magnetic tractor beam using this hoverboard technology.

In 2014 Arx Pax unveiled Hendo Hoverboard – a device that used MFA (magnetic field architecture) technology to hover off the ground. The company’s patent is still pending for this technology. However, that was the first application of MFA.

The basic principle here is that swirls of electricity are generated by the hover engine in a surface that is conductive in nature. This results in the production of a magnetic field that is highly concentrated. Now this field induces opposing field on the conductive material – and there you have a hovering device. The Hendo Hoverboard was a success, no doubts since many companies have been trying to do so and have failed. But, it does had some limitations like it required a special metallic surface to work up on, made loud noises and had a low battery life. But that was just the beginning. We are sure that Arx Pax has something bigger to cover that up.

The initial focus of the project will be on linking CubeStats. These are nothing but 10cm by 10 cm extremely lightweight satellites built by NASA to monitor Earth. However these little satellites hold promise to explore other worlds. Next step would be to be able to move them around relative to each other.

Such coordinated satellites can go a long way in helping to explore an asteroid’s surface. But there are still major questions like how will NASA and Arx Pax power the beam and up to what range it will work?

Image Credit: Arx Pax