2001 Awards IndexEditors' choiceElectronicsTransportationHealthEntertainment Aerospace CommunicationsEnvironmentFinalistsThe Christopher Columbus Foundation Award
AEROSPACE
ROBERT WINGLEE
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
MINI-MAGNETOSPHERE PLASMA PROPULSION (M2P2)
Photograph by Brad Hines
Rooting around in the detritus on his desk, Robert Winglee finds a quarter-sized magnet and waves it inches from his computer monitor, sending ripples of color scattering as light particles are deflected back toward the screen. He slowly brings together two magnets until they repel each other. Even at age 43, the Australian geophysicist never tires of performing tricks with magnetic fields.
Now Winglee has the go-ahead from NASA to perfect what could be his most promising trick yet: using an 8-inch magnet to propel spacecraft at speeds of up to 180,000 miles per hour— 10 times as fast as the space shuttle. Winglee believes that if a satellite or spacecraft could inflate around itself a bubble-shaped magnetic shield as big as 25 miles ...
