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For decades, getting things to space and moving them around once they are there has been accomplished in a simple way: by lighting chemicals on fire.

But just as the world is moving away from combustion for powering vehicles on Earth, we’re starting to see that in space, too. Just a few weeks ago, I wrote about Auriga Space, which is building electromagnetic launchers to replace the first stage of rockets.

Once satellites are in space, there’s a number of companies looking for ways to reduce the amount of fuel needed. One of those is Zenno Astronautics, which is building solar-powered superconducting magnets that can tap Earth’s own magnetic fields to re-orient spacecraft, ensuring that they are pointed where they need to be.

“In order for us to prosper and to be sustainable in space beyond Earth, we have to learn how to live off the resources already available in space,” CEO and co-founder Max Arshavsky told me.

To that end, the company has built what it calls a Supertorquer. From the outside, it looks just like a metal box that can be plugged into an existing satellite. Using superconductors, the Supertorquer creates a magnetic field that can be adjusted in strength and direction relative to Earth’s natural magnetic field. This in turn changes the spacecraft’s orientation while in orbit–no fuel needed.

While magnetic orientation isn’t new, Zenno’s technology enables it to happen at higher orbits where Earth’s magnetic field is weaker. And the Supertorquer is a solid-state technology, meaning there’s no moving parts that will wear out over time, extending the lifetime of satellites.

Earlier this month, the company announced that the Supertorquer has been installed on Portal Space Systems’ Starburst-1, which is currently scheduled to launch in October. That mission will give Zenno the chance to test another potential benefit of its Supertorquer: using magnets to........

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