Zenno Astronautics wants to move spacecraft using electromagnets, not fuel

It's easy to think of satellites as a group of mini-moons, orbiting the Earth seamlessly and without any (perceivable) movement. But that's not entirely accurate: satellites and other spacecraft often require fairly continuous adjustments to their position in orbit.

Historically, the aerospace industry has relied on thrusters, or a combination of reaction wheels and magnetic torsion bars, to control a spacecraft's attitude, control, and positioning. But these take up a lot of space and mass, and limit how long a spacecraft can remain in orbit. The New Zealand company Zenno Astronautics has developed an alternative to these heavy and time-limited propulsion systems. The core technology is an electromagnet that generates a very strong magnetic field, which can interact with other magnetic fields - like those of other spacecraft, or even those of Earth - to generate torque.

The technology has attracted interest from investors, who recently contributed to a NZ$10.5 million ($6.585 million) funding round. New Zealand venture capital firms GD1 (Global From Day One) and Nuance Connected Capital led the round, with additional participation from Shasta Ventures. NZGCP, K1W1, Austrian billionaire Wolfgang Leitner, Alt Ventures, Enterprise Angels, Arkisys and NZVC.

The funding marks the start of what Zenno hopes will be an 18-month milestone, culminating with their first launch in Q4 2023. Around the same time, the company hopes to have a production facility running with a massive manufacturing capacity. 1,000 electromagnetic systems per year.

"We can generate a new kind of force in space," founder Max Arshavsky told TechCrunch. "This is really the most fundamental breakthrough we have."

Max Arshavsky, founder of Zenno Astronautics. Credit: Zenno Astronautics.

Zenno got his start just over five years ago when Arshavsky was a student at the University of Auckland, home to New Zealand's premier space systems programme, studying physics.

The startup's first propulsion system, called Z01 or the Supertorquer, is quite simple, as Arshavsky explains: an electromagnet is created using a coil of wire (this is also called a solenoid, for engineers). This electromagnet generates a powerful magnetic field, which then interacts with that of the Earth to allow the satellite to point itself in relation to the planet.

Previous attempts to develop this technology were limited by the amount of electrical current you could pass through a conventional piece of wire. Zenno's breakthrough uses high-temperature superconducting wire that has no resistance to the flow of electric current, so an enormous amount of current can be pushed through. The higher the amount of current, the stronger the magnetic field. The company also solved a few other bottlenecks, such as the wire having to operate at around 80 Kelvin, or -193°C, which is much colder than the vacuum of space.

The result is a system that the company says takes up 20 times less space than traditional propulsion systems. In addition to pointing satellites, the electromagnetic system could also be used for inter-satellite interactions, such as cleaning up orbital debris, docking spacecraft or servicing in orbit. Most spacecraft have something that can interact with an electromagnet, such as magnetic torsion bars, so the technology is compatible with older spacecraft even if they don't have Zenno's systems, Arshavsky said. .

The company is also working on using its technology to shield the interiors of spacecraft – manned or cargo – from the enormous amount of radiation in space. The magnetic field could be used to deflect radiation from charged particles, which could extend the life of an orbiting spacecraft or protect the crew. This is a key problem to solve for manned deep space missions, including to Mars.