“Additionally, it can achieve higher power levels and thrust while maintaining efficiency, making it suitable for long-term missions to destinations like the Moon, Mars, and beyond.”

The team’s magnet is made up of four coils of superconducting tape and is roughly the size of a dinner plate. It aims to make a smaller iteration in the near future. This will reduce weight, making it better suited to spaceflight.

This year, the Paihau-Robinson team also aims to send a technology demonstrator, called Hēki, to the ISS. This demonstrator will be attached to the outside of the space station on Voyager Space’s NanoRacks External Platform. Hēki is the word for “egg” in the Māori language. The name was chosen to reflect the fact this could be the beginning of a new era in spaceflight.