passively restrained in the radial direction by means of permanent magnets while an active axial restraint is provided by a combination of permanent magnets and electromagnetic windings application_number US 62232475 A description referring now to fig1 a preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated having a housing 10 defined by a larger diameter cylindrical wall 11 and a smaller diameter cylindrical wall 12 joined by a pair of circular end plates 13 and 14 a rotor 20 is shown between stator members 21 and 22 mounted for rotation about spin axis sa a cross section of the preferred embodiment of fig1 taken along plane 2 2 is shown in fig2 the magnetically suspended angular momentum wheel according to the present invention will be more clearly understood by referring to fig2 where a rotor 20 shown in further detail in fig4 is shown mounted within housing 10 between a pair of stator members 21 and 22 shown in further detail in fig3 rotor 20 is suspended between stator members 21 and 22 by means of magnetic fields stator member 21 includes a circular base plate 25 to which is fastened a circular sheet of steel 26 and to which in turn is laminated a thin circular sheet of aluminum 27 base plate 25 can also serve as part of housing member 11 see fig1 aluminum sheet 27 is the base.