![\"International](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4KKQK3I_ISS_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nThe International Space Station
\nPhoto: NASA\n<\/p>\n
A New Zealand experiment on the International Space Station has proved a superconducting system can survive a power failure.<\/p>\n
Victoria University’s small H\u0113ki magnet power system has been looking into new ways to propel spaceships for six months<\/a>.<\/p>\n The H\u0113ki team says they exceeded their research aims and perhaps most exciting was overcoming the power failure hurdle, a common weak point in superconductor systems.<\/p>\n “H\u0113ki is inside the airlock where it will remain for several days,” said chief scientist Professor Randy Pollock in an email.<\/p>\n It would then be packed up by astronauts to return to Houston, then to New Zealand.<\/p>\n “It is a bittersweet moment for the team – proud that the mission has been so successful but sad that it has come to an end.”<\/p>\n \nH\u0113ki uses superconductor magnet propulsion technology. The suitcase-sized unit did not appear to have degraded while in space, and if their checks in Wellington confirm that, it would be another step towards commercial use.<\/p>\n “This demonstration is key to widespread acceptance of this technology in space where reliability and robustness are paramount,” Pollock said..<\/p>\n Victoria’s Paihau-Robinson Research Institute is working on an electric propulsion system it has dubbed the K\u014dkako thruster<\/a> that would integrate plasma with the superconducting tech.<\/p>\n The space station offers highly sought-after slots on its outside for scientists to run experiments.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nPhoto: Reece Baker \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n