Early thruster prototype for satellites by Magdrive

Metal propellant thruster prototype developed by Magdrive called 'Fate amenable to change'. This was the first prototype made by Magdrive founder, Thomas Clayson. Thomas built this developmental model in his daughter's bedroom during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. This model was designed to test whether plasma could be generated by charging the power board capacitors to 600 volts and then discharging them all in microseconds. This power vapourised a tiny bit of metal inside the large coil which created the plasma. This prototype demonstrated that a plasma could be generated.

Magdrive's 'Rogue' thruster uses solid metal propellant as fuel. Rapid pulses of energy heat up the metal, turning it into a hot plasma which is then forced out using magnetic fields, generating thrust.

Metal is inert which means there are no combustable materials in the thruster, minimising risk. It also means there are no fuel pipes or tanks needed. Metal is also abundant in space, meaning that its could be possible to refuel spacecraft using space debris or even mining asteroids. The thrusters can react quickly in space, maneuvering spacecraft out of debris paths or to alter its orbit.