Florida company aims to revolutionize space travel with ‘electrostatic propulsion’

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Updated  November 14, 2024 9:33pm EST
FOX 35 Orlando
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Company aims to revolutionize space travel

Exodus Propulsion Technologies, a Merritt Island-based company, is developing a groundbreaking propulsion system that could one day power rockets using electrostatic pressure.

MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. - Exodus Propulsion Technologies, a Merritt Island-based company, is developing a groundbreaking propulsion system that could one day power rockets using electrostatic pressure. 

Currently, the technology is limited to moving a Styrofoam bar, but the team believes that in the future, it could push spacecraft and make interstellar travel a reality.

Dr. Charles Buhler, who leads the project and the electrostatics lab at Kennedy Space Center, describes the technology as transformative.

"It's very profound, what we've discovered," he said. "We're excited to see the public's interest in this technology."

Working out of a converted garage, Buhler and aerospace engineer Andrew Aurigema have created gold-colored panels that generate thrust by harnessing electrostatic pressure, a force similar to air or water pressure. 

"We've created an electrostatic pressure," Buhler explained. "As long as we unbalance it, we can actually see the force of an object."

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The next major step for the team is to test the technology in orbit with a cube satellite. Aurigema envisions a future where spacecraft equipped with these panels could continually accelerate beyond Earth’s gravity. 

"Once you're out of the Earth’s gravity well, you just pick where you're pointed at, and you go," he said, illustrating the technology’s potential to change the way humanity approaches space travel.

Brian Miske, a KPMG innovation leader, sees significant promise in Exodus’s work, noting its potential to reduce fuel and operational costs and advance the space economy. 

"This will help decrease costs of fuels, decrease cost of operations, and it really starts to challenge a lot of the conventional thinking around propulsion," Miske said.

Buhler and Aurigema believe that once the technology matures, it could have applications beyond space, such as powering cars, planes, and other terrestrial vehicles.

"Pretty much anyone we meet, wants to join. " Aurigema added. "Because they're like, ‘What do you mean? We can make Star Trek come true?’ Yeah! Beam me up!'"

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