The PuFF (Pulsed Fission Fusion) project aims to revolutionize space travel through nuclear propulsion. PuFF will produce both high specific impulse (Isp 5,000-30,000 sec) and high thrust (10-100 kN), enabling quick (~1 month) transit times to Mars, the outer planets and exiting the solar system (~5 years). PuFF creates thrust by imploding a fission-fusion target using a Z-pinch. The process involves using the Lorentz (j×B) force to create gigapascal to terapascal pressures. Liquid lithium is injected in both a cylinder and cone. When the two connect, a circuit with a network of capacitors (referred to here as the pulser) is completed, and a 10-25 MA pulse flows down the lithium. The Z-pinch slams the lithium onto a fission-fusion target. The resulting compression (5-10 by volume) reaches super-criticality and explodes. The expanding plasma is then directed out of the back of the engine by a magnetic nozzle.
The Pulsed Fission-Fusion (PuFF) Engine: Development Status
AIAA ASCEND ; 2020 ; Virtual, US
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Keine Angabe
Englisch
Developing the Pulsed Fission-Fusion (PuFF) Engine
NTRS | 2014
|Pulsed Fission Fusion (PuFF) Propulsion System
NTRS | 2018
|Pulsed Fission Fusion (PuFF) Propulsion System
NTRS | 2017
|Pulsed Fission-Fusion (PuFF) Propulsion System
NTIS | 2017
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