On Feb 18, 1:04*pm, Pat Flannery wrote:
wrote:

I guess it's vaguely possible that they've come up with a way to react
against the earth's magnetic field for other than attitude control,
but I wouldn't put any money on it.

IIRC, that technique has been used for decades for satellite
stabilization, if not propulsion.

Anyway, historical orbital
elements are available for the satellite (NORAD 32953) on Space Track,
so it should be possible to check to see if it's done any unusual
maneuvering.

I saw those this morning when I did a Google search under the
satellite's name, it doesn't appear to have done much.
Their description of tornado-like motion reminds me of this nutty thing:http://jnaudin.free.fr/html/vtxtech.htm
...and trying to play around with crazy German flying saucer technology
sounds exactly like something Russians would try.

Pat

I do not see much too strange about this. Consider the force on a
current loop to be F=qVXB (note X is the cross product of vector
quantites V and B) and you see via the right hand rule that there is a
force on a current loop if the loop is angled wrt the field direction.
Yes, the force is small which would explain why they discuss small
satellites and the right hand rule might explain the weird reference
to "tornado motion" and would explain why they use a battery (to
provide current).