In contrast, a levitated dipole system doesn’t have a lot of stored energy called “plasma current”, Mataira says. “So you don’t get these big bursts of energy whacking into things.”

A very attractive prospect
Mataira says OpenStar is one of a growing number of companies worldwide using high-temperature superconductors (HTS) to build their magnets. These HTS magnets are made of rare-earth barium copper oxides, or ReBCOs.