The iridescent red glow from a loading deck wakes you from your slumber. You hear the gentle hum of a levitating suitcase beside you, bustling crowds eager to board the next spaceship off the Moon colony. A message echoes on the loudspeaker above, “Group A cleared for take-off” as a bolt of brilliant light shoots off into black abyss. Seeming like a far-fetched dream, this image of an interstellar human species is a lot closer than we may think thanks to a powerful technological innovation: magnetic levitation, or “maglev” for short.

Magnetic levitation is a method where four magnets with opposing north and south magnetic fields course through their respective poles like a magnet which channels electricity through loops for forward propulsion. This technology is, already implemented today in the form of trains. Though public transportation here on Earth is a useful implementation, NASA’s Project StarTram uses magnetic levitation in order to more efficiently launch rockets into space. This piece of technology holds the potential to easily launch humanity to the stars, allowing us to become that space faring species we so often dream of.

Notably, rocket launching techniques have been improved by the use of magnetic levitation. Rockets expend 11,000 pounds of fuel per second, and the energy needed to accelerate a 1 million pound launch vehicle to 1,000 kph would drastically change our current system for energy storage and use. On average, close to 90% of the cargo in a rocket is used for fuel storage! Using magnetic levitation instead frees up space that would otherwise be used for fuel storage, allowing the creation of more passenger space and cargo of other materials. According to NASA, the two Solid Rocket Boosters consume 11,000 pounds of fuel per second. Fuel for a rocket costs close to $900,000 with extra material being used to build extra tankers for housing this fuel. Lisa Zyga from Phys.org discusses the potential for magnetic levitation to decrease the cost of rocket launches by $20 million.

Rocketry, once an overly expensive hope, could become vastly more financially accessible. In fact, beyond being accessible it might just help stimulate our economy. Asteroid mining has long since been considered far too expensive to pursue, despite the fact that these celestial bodies can contain ten quintillion dollars worth of metal. Yet with magnet based launching systems, the ease of launching means many of our financial setbacks disappear.

Picture a track where multiple rockets launch into outer space like an airport with astronauts and personnel scrambling to coordinate the next flight. Using the same method of maglev trains and altering the design such that  the magnetic fields of each rail thrust objects forward, rockets essentially would become projectiles shot into space. Through these magnets, the rocket would hover like maglev trains do, eliminating friction which would otherwise slow down our rocket. Other magnets would quickly act to propel it forward.

A rocket using this technology would need a large track to build momentum. This track would give the rocket enough speed to enter orbit while conserving our energy. This “cannon”—sounding like something from Star Trek—has already been implemented in the form of trains in Japan and China. With these trains reaching speeds of 600 kph, magnetic technology has the potential to drastically increase launch speed and acceleration, increasing the accessibility of reaching orbital space. Both satellites for TV signals and spaceships for scientific research would have a more efficient deployment, drawing humanity to space with it.

NASA already has considered using magnetic levitation for rocket launching with project StarTram: a proposed space launch system propelled by maglev technology. NASA hopes to build a first generation facility upon a mountain peak, giving ample space for a track to launch from. Project StarTram even introduced new concepts like a space elevator which, through a magnet platform, extends ships to high altitudes, removing the immense propulsion required to launch rockets from Earth’s soil. This system can be used for asteroid data mining, launching these exciting new prospects.

This task is not as easy as sticking a magnet to a rocket and shooting it into space. Firstly, the cost of building Project StarTam would be about $20 billion dollars over the next 10 years for this project to come to its fruition. Additionally, the resources needed in order to build a sustainable track still remain difficult to attain. Furthermore, the track would need to withstand weather conditions in order to prevent malfunctions during a liftoff in order to guarantee the safety of passengers. 

While this endeavor presents its challenges, the results would prove to be fruitful as space travel becomes less wishful thinking. Project StarTram and many others offer a sight into space being as freely traversed as our oceans today, a lift-off to the future.