Why is it important?
Global positioning, communication, media streaming, weather forecast, forest fire observation and many more vital capabilities are made possible by satellites. Given these achievements, there’s a vision that development of space technologies will accelerate. As superconductors possess the highest attainable electrical current density among all known materials, various space applications may benefit from compact and lightweight superconducting electrical systems.
The scope of potential applications in space is rather large: plasma thrusters, magnetic anti-radiation shields, magnets for reduction of plasma heat on atmosphere re-entry, precise scientific instruments like particle spectrometers, supertorquers, energy storage systems and fusion rocket engines. First launches of prototypes have started recently.
What's holding us back?
Most of the superconductor space applications are currently in lab prototyping stage (TRL < 6). Before commercialization stage is achieved, significant capital investment is needed to prove maturity through rigorous tests. Although the number of projects involving use of superconductors for space is constantly increasing, there’s a need for more result-focused efforts.
Cryocooling for space is well-developed, because low temperature sensors are used in space technology for decades and small-sized space-certified low-power cryocoolers are commercially available.
It is likely that space technologies will not suffer from superconductor shortage anytime soon, because most of them require relatively small amounts of conductor.