The Star Thrust Experiment (STX) was a plasma physics experiment at the University of Washington's Redmond Plasma Physics Laboratory which ran from 1999 to 2001. The experiment studied magnetic plasma confinement to support controlled nuclear fusion experiments. Specifically, STX pioneered the possibility of forming a Field-reversed configuration (FRC) by using a Rotating Magnetic Field (RMF). Background FRCs are of interest to the plasma physics community because of their confinement properties and their small size. While most large fusion experiments in the world are tokamaks, FRCs are seen as a viable alternative because of their higher Beta, meaning the same power output could be produced from a smaller volume of plasma, and their good plasma stability. History The STX was built in 1998. The STX was motivated by a discovery from an unrelated experiment; a few years previously, the Large-S Experiment (LSX) had demonstrated the existence of a kinetically stabilized parameter regime which appeared advantageous for a fusion reactor. However, the LSX experiment formed FRCs in a power-hungry, violent way called a theta-pinch. The US Department of Energy funded the Translation Confinement Sustainment (TCS) program as a follow-on to the LSX program, but it had not yet begun when the STX started operation. The purpose of TCS was to see whether Rotating Magnetic Fields could sustain FRCs born of the theta-pinch method, but the question remained as to whether RMF alone could form FRCs. If so, this was expected to be a lighter, more efficient means of FRC formation. This was the question that the STX was meant to answer. The STX was contemporary with the following RMF-FRC experiments: The TCS, the PFRC, and the PV Rotamak. Relevance to spacecraft propulsion NASA funded the construction of the experiment. This is because FRC-based fusion reactors appear to be well-suited to deep-space fusion rockets, especially those formed by RMF. This concept is similar to the Direct Fusion Drive, a current research project to create a fusion rocket from an RMF-driven FRC fusion reactor. Apparatus The STX vacuum vessel was made of quartz, as it needed to be non-conductive to allow the RMF to pass through. It was 3 meters long and 40 centimeters in diameter. The axial magnetic field was created by electromagnetic coils and was 100 Gauss in strength. The RMF was created by a novel solid-state RF amplifier which was designed to be more powerful and more efficient than preceding Rotamak