Next-Generation Spacecraft Propulsion

News

Media

Interview with The Telegraph: “Spacecraft could be fuelled by space junk collected in orbit”

Media

Magdrive’s CEO, Mark Stokes had an engaging conversation with The Telegraph regarding the potential for Magdrive thrusters to be fuelled by space junk collected in orbit.

OUR TECHNOLOGY

The Magdrive is a compact, high-power propulsion system for satellites and spacecraft in LEO today, deep space and beyond tomorrow.
Our thruster uses a metal propellent and recharged internal energy to create a high energy plasma.
The Magdrive generates thrust an order of magnitude higher than other similar sized electric propulsion systems.
The full integrated system fits inside a single 2U cubesat with a dry mass of 2.5 kg, including propellant, onboard processor and energy storage, and plasma injector.

Key Applications

Sustained RPO

Long term rendezvous and proximity operations for satellite servicing, imaging, ISAM/IOSM, and maximizing the value of space logistics and servicing vehicles
Stochastic Movement

To make defense satellites untraceable by enabling sustained unpredictable orbits above key adversarial ground stations
Constellation Management

To achieve high cadence avoidance maneuvers in highly congested Low Earth Orbits, and end of life de-orbiting

Our Team

Dr Thomas Clayson

CTO & Co-Founder
A Plasma Physicist and Pulsed Power Engineer of Imperial College London and obtained his PhD in plasma laboratory astrophysics in 2018. Thomas has used pulsed power machines and high powered lasers to generate plasmas, studying the effects of magnetic fields, shock waves and radiation.
Mark Stokes

CEO & Co-Founder

A Mechanical and Machine Learning Engineer of Imperial College London. He has worked at startups and Fortune 500 companies in sales, and in nanomechanics, industrial design, signal processing, computer vision for robotics and aerospace.