One such proposed technology being developed at The University of Alabama in Huntsville is based on the concept of a sail pushed along by space plasma.

The basic ingredients of a plasma sail are a magnetic solenoid and a plasma machine aboard a spacecraft. The plasma machine must be capable of releasing a dense and warm plasma cloud. As the cloud expands, the magnetic field lines generated by the solenoid stretch out because of the diamagnetic nature of the plasma. This stretching creates a magnetic bubble, or balloon.

Research reveals that available plasma technologies can stretch the "balloon" to distances of several tens of kilometers, according to UAH Professor Dr. Nagendra Singh. "When this bubble intercepts the solar wind, which is a fast stream of plasma coming from the Sun and permeates all over deep space, a propulsive force acts on the spacecraft in a manner similar to the common sail," he said.

Singh is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at The University of Alabama in Huntsville. This concept of a plasma sail is still in the initial stages of development, according to Singh.

UAH researchers are developing a computer model to study the basic physics of blowing the magnetic bubble as well as how the force acting on the spacecraft to the interaction of the solar wind with the blown magnetic bubble.

"Our modeling efforts include state-of-the-art, fully three-dimensional plasma codes and electromagnetic codes to calculate the force," said Dr. Reza Adhami, chairman of UAH's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.

Singh said the blowing magnetic bubbles might have other applications in space exploration. "Such bubbles can be used as protective shields for astronauts against energetically charged particles commonly found in space," he said.

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