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A schematic of a fusion-driven rocket by NASA. A fusion rocket is a theoretical design for a rocket driven by fusion propulsion that could provide efficient and sustained acceleration in space without the need to carry a large fuel supply. The design requires fusion power technology beyond current capabilities, and much larger and more complex ...
Direct Fusion Drive (DFD) is a conceptual, low radioactivity, nuclear-fusion rocket engine, designed to produce both thrust and electric power, suitable for interplanetary spacecraft. The concept is based on the Princeton field-reversed configuration reactor , invented in 2002 by Samuel A. Cohen.
The Bussard ramjet is a theoretical method of spacecraft propulsion for interstellar travel.A fast moving spacecraft scoops up hydrogen from the interstellar medium using an enormous funnel-shaped magnetic field (ranging from kilometers to many thousands of kilometers in diameter); the hydrogen is compressed until thermonuclear fusion occurs, which provides thrust to counter the drag created ...
A groundbreaking nuclear fusion rocket could slash the time it takes astronauts to travel to Mars in half.
It is hoped that this results in a complete burn up of both the fission and fusion fuels, making PuFF more efficient than other nuclear pulse concepts. [25] [26] Much like in a magneto-inertial fusion rocket, the performance of the engine is dependent on the degree to which the fusion gain of the D-T target is increased.
The computed burn-up fraction for the fusion fuels was 0.175 and 0.133 producing exhaust velocities of 10,600 km/s and 9,210 km/s respectively. Due to scarcity of helium-3 on Earth, it was to be mined from the atmosphere of Jupiter by large hot-air balloon supported robotic factories over a 20-year period, or from a less distant source, such as ...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States plans to test a spacecraft engine powered by nuclear fission by 2027 as part of a long-term NASA effort to demonstrate more efficient methods of propelling ...
In mid-1958, NASA replaced the Air Force [16] and built Kiwi reactors to test nuclear rocket principles in a non-flying nuclear engine. [17] With the next phase's Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application ( NERVA ), NASA and AEC sought to develop a nuclear thermal rocket for "both long-range missions to Mars and as a possible upper-stage ...