Field Reactors

History of the Field Reactor

 

 

The first flash of inspiration for what was to become the Field Reactor was back in 2001.

 

The original intention was to invent a purely electromagnetic (EM) thruster for use on spacecraft as a direct replacement for the ion thrusters used to maintain low Earth orbit for satellites such as ESA GOCE, on SpaceX Starlink craft to achieve their operational orbits and on deep space probes such as Deep Space 1 to achieve large velocity changes with very long engine "burns".

 

This is a notorious problem and no provably working solution has previously been demonstrated. The attraction of a purely EM drive is that it doesn't require propellant as reaction mass, but generates thrust for as long as it is powered.

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Now that a working prototype Field Reactor has been made it is apparent that the same technology could also be used for attitude control to replace control moment gyroscopes, which are prone to failure, and reaction control thrusters, which have a finite amount of fuel and are also at the mercy of mechanical failure. 

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The use of Field Reactors would reduce spacecraft launch mass and complexity to give lower build and launch costs, extend mission lifetimes and deliver better value for money for operators.

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Using Field Reactors would also give mission planners much greater flexibility over mission timelines and make possible grand tours of planetary systems and facilitate sample return missions. Also, spacecraft equipped with Field Reactors could be used to de-orbit defunct spacecraft to mitigate the problem of space junk and to push asteroids in dangerous orbits to safety.

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Beyond spacecraft propulsion

 

 

During the development of the theory of how the Field Reactor works as a thruster it became clear that not only would it work as a motor but also as a generator and, in doing so, as a controllable resistance to an external force, a directional inertia. Field Reactors could be used to make an object harder to push in one direction than in others, or to generate thrust in one or more directions while resisting forces acting in others.

 

This is completely new and suggests many possible applications.

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When working as a generator, damping motion, a Field Reactor also harvests energy and momentum from whatever it is decelerating and converts this into electromagnetic waves and current. 

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Field Reactors are scalable in size and power, from about the size of a sugar cube upwards to arbitrarily large arrays.

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Future research and development

 

 

Now that a working prototype Field Reactor has been built and the invention is protected by patent it is time to partner with manufacturers and other interested parties to design and build production models of Field Reactors, to optimise thrust to mass and thrust to power ratios and to take Field Reactor technology to its vast potential market. Click the Contact tab at the top of the page to get in touch so we can find out what we can achieve together.

Limitless possibilities

 

 

The Field Reactor joins the diverse family of electromagnetic transducers and will find myriad applications in all sorts of systems not just in space but also down here on Earth in everything from large industrial, civilian and military installations to the automotive sector, consumer electricals, hobbies, toys and novelties.

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The possibilities are limited only by the imagination, creativity and flair of product designers.