---
title: "NASA Is Working With a Hoverboard Company to Develop Magnetic “Tractor Beams”"
description: "Arx Pax burst onto the scene last year when it demonstrated its magnetic hoverboard. Now NASA wants to look into the technology to see if it can be used to manipulate satellites in space."
date: "2015-09-02"
modified: "2015-09-03"
authors:
  - name: "Kif Leswing"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kif_leswing"
url: "https://futurism.com/nasa-is-working-with-a-hoverboard-company-to-develop-magnetic-tractor-beams"
categories:
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
---

# NASA Is Working With a Hoverboard Company to Develop Magnetic “Tractor Beams”

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/img_5438.jpg>)

- Arx Pax announced the partnership with NASA under the Space Act Agreement in a press release. From the release: "The purpose of the collaboration is to use Arx Pax's MFA to create micro-satellite capture devices that can manipulate and couple satellites from a distance. This can be achieved by using a magnetic tether between the objects."
- Sounds like a tractor beam. The devices will not only be able to attract one object to another, but there are hopes it can repel objects as well. The end goal: the ability to capture and manipulate micro-satellites without making physical contact.
- Of course, this is a moonshot -- the tech isn't likely to be commercialized anytime soon, but it's nice to know that NASA is investigating ways to manipulate objects in space for the long-term.