NASA apparently has a fable for the Star Trek franchise, back in 1976 the first space shuttle was named after the, Star Trek starship, USS Enterprise, astronauts have visited Star Trek film sets and soon Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) will get a first hand “experience” of NASA’s newest telescope: SOFIA. The latest news is that NASA is to create a Star Trek-style tractor beam. It is not exactly a tractor beam, they want to use electromagnetic energy to manipulate objects in space.
The technology will come from Arx Pax’s Magnetic Field Architecture. Last year the co-founders of Arx Pax, Greg and Jill Henderson, made the world’s first hoverboard, the Hendo Hover, attracting a lot of attentions to their new technology. How the technology works is best explained in their own words.
“MFA is simply the design of more useful magnetic fields. By combining relatively weak magnetic fields in the correct way, the magnetic flux can be organized to reinforce and align itself to do more work.
Depending on the application, MFA can begin either with electromagnets or permanent magnets. When their respective fields are properly combined, new field patterns can be created for specific uses.
The MFA hover engine generates a primary magnetic field, which induces electrical currents in the conductive surface. These eddy currents then create a secondary magnetic field which repels the primary field. In other words, the hover engines create opposing electromagnets in the surface material which provide lift.”
Here is a video from Cnet showing the Hendo in action
MFA is innovative technology that works, not just a gimmick. I am sure that hoverboards and “tractor beams” are just the beginning
