Experimental study of magnetic sails

A magnetic sail is a unique propulsion system, which travels interplanetary space by capturing the energy of the solar wind. In order to simulate the interaction between the artificial magnetic field produced around a spacecraft and the solar wind, a scaled-down laboratory experiment was conducted in a space chamber. Preliminary results showed some strong interactions between the high-density (10(exp 19)/cu m) and high-velocity (17 km/s) plasma flow and an artificial magnetic field of about 1 T, hence the possibility of the magnetic sail simulator is provided; however, further improvement is required to realize a collision-less solar wind plasma flow in the laboratory.
JAXA Special Publication
宇宙航空研究開発機構特別資料