Tie a metal ribbon around the old satellite

Maybe one day in the future someone will sing song about the testament of satellites to American troops and American advances in space, but for now, Japan is trying to utilize the Earth’s magnetic field to propel vehicles into space. A 300 meter-long (984 feet), 2.5 centimeter-wide (.98 inch) ribbon managed to generate current with no need for fuel to aid in propulsion. The ribbon is able to do this by sucking up ionospheric electrons at one end and spitting them out at the other, allowing the current to flow through the metal ribbon. The project is still in its early stages, but in the future, satellites could come 1000 foot-long metal tails.

[via Engadget]