An early application of practical room temperature superconductors would be to enable 2 month trips to Mars.
Paihau—Robinson, an industry leader in high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet development, is undertaking a five-year research programme into the application of its proprietary magnet technology to applied-field magneto plasma dynamic (AF-MPD) thrusters—a type of electric space thruster. Applied-field magneto plasma dynamic technology has been worked on for over 60 years and has been held back by magnets that are too weak and heavy.
If the South Korea practical room temperature superconductor pans out, then electric propulsion systems will go from a fraction of a newton of thrust up to hundreds of newtons. They will still be better than chemical engine fuel efficiency by ten times or more.
You would be able to run the engines for ten times longer and build up more speed. This would mean 1-2 months trips to Mars.
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NASA-TM-20220019348.pdf
Still need to solve the power source problem for high power electric space propulsion. I mean, VASIMR is also fairly decent as well, but nobody has flown a power source in the necessary size range yet.
Solar power can do fine in the inner solar system. It’s needed new “in-situ” solar printing in space to reduce the weight of the panel to get even better values, but it doesn’t seems too difficult.
at Youtube, everytime I visit a video about some new space propulsion scheme, there is always someone screaming “but VASIMR, already certified by NASA, 39 days to Mars!”
They never question the necessity for a 200MW power source that weights as much as a feather (ok, the feather part was exageration)
NASA-TM-20220019348.pdf
Like Francis, I have serious doubts about the superconducting capabilities of this magnet.
https://francis.naukas.com/2023/07/26/mis-dudas-sobre-lk-99-el-supuesto-superconductor-a-temperatura-y-presion-ambientales/
“Applied-field magneto plasma dynamic technology has been worked on for over 60 years and has been held back by magnets that are too weak and heavy.”
Did you look at the critical field for this reported superconductor? It’s actually not that great, the sort of neodymium magnet that people use all over the place would quench it.
You’d likely still have to run it cryogenic to better the magnets they use now.