Diamagnetic Polar Orbit

Question

This has nothing to do with electricity, Electrodynamic propulsion, or light sails.

I am asking can a flat surface made of diamagnetic material like light sail displace Earth or the Sun's magnetic field to maneuver in orbit?

Would adding a diametric layer to a light sail increase propulsion from magnetic fields of the Sun? Can the Earth, Sun or other planets have a Magnetosphere strong enough to propel or provide stability to a spacecraft or satellite?

The orbit in red below would follow the polar cusp in relation to the Sun.

Can orbital maneuvers be performed by a solar sail to correct eccentricity?

Possible duplicate of Using Earth's magnetic field for an electric propulsion system — Antzi, Aug 29 '18 at 07:12
I don't think the it would be a duplicate, this question is essentially different because it asks for diamagnetic sails. — peterh, Aug 29 '18 at 10:40
@Uwe film over or behind the material of the light sail to propel by light and diamagnetic pressure. — Muze, Mar 02 '19 at 21:29
If it has nothing to do with light sails as you say in the first paragraph, why do the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs mention them? — Organic Marble, Mar 02 '19 at 23:01
Resembling a light sail. But not a lightsail I am not sure how to phrase it — Muze, Mar 02 '19 at 23:14

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 03 '19 at 20:16

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As per wiki, light sails are made of Mylar, a reflective polyester film. The material with the highest diamagnetic constant is bismuth, χv = −1.66×10−4, although pyrolytic carbon may have a susceptibility of χv = −4.00×10−4 in one plane.. You can see pyrolytic carbon levitating above strong rare-earth magnets with a gap of only a few millimetres in the video below.

By the way, the Earth`s Magnetic field is of the order 10^-5T.(see here). Moreover, in case of super conductors Quantum Locking cannot be achieved due to irregularities in Earth's magnetic field. So, as per above information, a good orbital velocity cannot be achieved by such a low intensity of magnetic field.

edited Mar 03 '19 at 20:16

Uwe

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answered Mar 03 '19 at 09:50

cosmic_tintin

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As per WIKI - Can you add the link then? – Mar 03 '19 at 10:38
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The diamagnetic levitation requires an inhomogenous and very strong magnetic field. The Earth's magnetic field is very weak and due to its huge size locally homogenous. So the force created by a diamagnetic material in the Earth's magnetic field is very, very close to zero for two reasons: the weak field and the locally homogenous field. – Uwe Mar 03 '19 at 20:30
@Uwe In the video, the unperturbed field could be uniform, but the existence of the diamagnetic sample perturbs it, so the resulting field is nonuniform. According to the linked article, the sample's response is both large, and non-isotropic "in one plane" so I think what's going on here is not the same as for the levitating frog. – uhoh Mar 03 '19 at 22:27
@Uwe but yes for a spacecraft the gradient of the Earth's field is extremely weak, it changes over tens or hundreds of kilometers, not centimeters, so the resulting repulsion would be weak for two reasons; 1) very low field to begin with, and 2) very slow gradient. I think you should post that as an answer. – uhoh Mar 03 '19 at 22:29
I doubt that the magnetic field in the video is uniform. See this paper on page 5 and 6, Abbildung 4 to 9. Paper is in German language. – Uwe Mar 06 '19 at 12:12
Another paper about the orientaion of the magnets: "cube magnets are arranged in a chequered manner; alternately a north and a south pole pointing upward (see drawing). This special alignment is necessary for the graphite tile to keep levitating." – Uwe Mar 06 '19 at 12:19
@uhoh I wonder if this material energized would have more deflective properties. – Muze Mar 11 '19 at 00:45
@Muze this comment explains that the effect is extremely weak. I think you'll need a material that currently doesn't exist before this could produce any useful amount of force. – uhoh Mar 11 '19 at 00:59
@uhoh I'm still on the fence about a solar sail having diamagnetic properties would not contribute to thrust. Is it weak compared to the thrust of light? I have accepted the answer for now unless challenged. – Muze Mar 11 '19 at 21:21
@Muze why don't you ask a specific question about it? Instead of "would X be possible?" how about asking "For a sail of diamagnetic material in LEO, how do the order of magnitude pressures due to diamagnetic repulsion of Earth's field, sunlight, and drag compare?" Specify that the answer can ignore angle; assume angle is optimized for each force separately. Then you can have hard numbers. Since you ask for pressure, it will already be force per unit area, so you don't have to specify a certain area ahead of time. – uhoh Mar 11 '19 at 22:32
@uhoh I see but you thought of it first so you ask, but I can try? – Muze Mar 11 '19 at 22:35
@uhoh I can imagine a little gradient could go a long way? – Muze Mar 11 '19 at 22:36
@Muze I think it's an interesting problem and I can probably answer it and others can probably answer it too. It doesn't matter to me who asks it. – uhoh Mar 11 '19 at 22:37

Diamagnetic Polar Orbit

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