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Active Electromagnetic Plasma Braking (AEPB): Electromagnetic Active Plasma Atmospheric Braking for Spacecraft
Paperback
Technology & EngineeringPhysics
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Sep 9 2026
Pages: 544
Weight: 2.74
Height: 1.10 Width: 8.50 Depth: 11.00
Language: English
A returning spacecraft carries billions of joules of energy. Could that energy help power its own braking system?
A ten-tonne spacecraft entering Earth's atmosphere at orbital velocity carries approximately 304 billion joules of kinetic energy. Every joule must go somewhere.
Heat shields protect the vehicle during that energy dump. But what if electromagnetic fields could change where and how the energy is transferred?
Active Electromagnetic Plasma Braking (AEPB) explores an ambitious possibility: use magnetised plasma as a virtual aeroshell, transfer momentum farther from the spacecraft, and recover electrical power to help sustain the braking process.
The prize: radically lower structural heating, controllable atmospheric braking, and reduced dependence on braking propellant.
But can the complete system work?
Across 20 chapters and eight technical appendices, Gareth Morgan Thomas examines:
- Magnetic drag and virtual aeroshells: how plasma could extend the effective braking area beyond the spacecraft itself.
- Regenerative power: what separates useful electrical recovery from a system that consumes more power than it produces.
- The hardware: superconducting magnets, plasma generation, cryogenics, power electronics, and energy storage.
- Controlled re-entry: high-altitude braking, electromagnetic steering, heat-flux limits, and aerodynamic handover.
- Planetary applications: orbital and lunar return, Mars entry, Venus, and giant-planet aerocapture.
- The route to proof: simulations, laboratory experiments, flight demonstrations, and the failure thresholds that decide feasibility.
An impressive plasma experiment is only the beginning.
A viable spacecraft must satisfy its momentum, power, mass, thermal, and control requirements simultaneously. This book connects those requirements so you can assess the architecture as a complete engineering system.
For engineers, physicists, advanced students, and serious spaceflight readers who want the equations, trade-offs, and development path behind the concept.
Get Active Electromagnetic Plasma Braking and explore what it would take to make regenerative re-entry work.
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