Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!nntp.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: John Hasler Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design,sci.astro,sci.physics Subject: Re: Could magnets be used for interstellar propulsion? Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2026 11:43:40 -0600 Organization: Dancing Horse Hill Lines: 13 Message-ID: <878qdbf3cj.fsf@sugarbit.com> References: <10lnf3n$3mhoh$1@dont-email.me> <10lnl5f$3oefp$3@dont-email.me> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Injection-Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2026 18:08:09 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="ba0326e930da22732c449e2ed67f16c3"; logging-data="904169"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+BehOw2BP5HIX5CCHE70fI6WHXLNEmb0s=" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Cancel-Lock: sha1:zEog8le7zmX0ogbEwPi4YSTIkf4= sha1:93QU6QWrMKgbwG41jve7SVAaZxs= Xref: csiph.com sci.electronics.design:740035 sci.astro:66554 sci.physics:895036 Bill Sloman wrote: > Earth has a magnetic field, and nobody uses magnets to drag boats or > aircraft around. Earth has a very weak magnetic field. Consequently even near the poles the force will be too small to be of any practical use. The torque on a dipole is sometimes used for satellite attitude control. -- John Hasler john@sugarbit.com Dancing Horse Hill Elmwood, WI USA