Magnesium Diboride Superconducting Coils for Electric Propulsion Systems for Large Aircraft, Phase II

The recent development of magnesium diboride superconducting wires makes possible the potential to have much lighter weight superconducting coils for heavy aircraft motors than with any other potential metal or ceramic superconductor. The magnesium diboride superconductor can be cooled to 20 K by the liquid hydrogen fuel. The lighter weight coils, especially in the rotor, will enable a lighter weight support structure so the motor weight will be reduced even more for the same horsepower motor. For this NASA SBIR Phase II our objective is to design, construct, test, and assembly MgB2 rotor coil packs to replace the copper rotor coil packs for the cryogenic motor test bed being built for NASA

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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