Nuclear fusion appears to be the most promising concept for producing extremely high specific impulse rocket engines. One particular fusion concept which seems to be particularly well suited for fusion propulsion applications is the gasdynamic mirror (GDM). This device would operate at much higher plasma densities and with much larger L/D ratios than previous mirror machines. Several advantages accrue from such a design. First, the high L/D ratio minimizes to a large extent certain magnetic curvature effects which lead to plasma instabilities causing a loss of plasma confinement. Second, the high plasma density will result in the plasma behaving much more like a conventional fluid with a mean free path shorter than the length of the device. This characteristic helps reduce problems associated with “loss cone” microinstabilities. An experimental GDM device is currently being constructed at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center to provide an initial assessment of the feasibility of this type of propulsion system. Initial experiments are expected to commence in the late fall of 2000.


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    Title :

    Gasdynamic mirror fusion propulsion experiment


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    Space Technology and Applications International Forum - 2001 ; 2001 ; Albuquerque, New Mexico


    Published in:

    AIP Conference Proceedings ; 552 , 1 ; 886-891


    Publication date :

    2001-02-02


    Size :

    6 pages





    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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    Emrich, W. J. / American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics / Society of Automotive Engineers et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2000


    Gasdynamic Mirror Fusion Propulsion Experiment

    Emrich, W. J. / Institute for Space and Nuclear Power Studies | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2001


    Gasdynamic mirror fusion propulsion experiment

    Emrich, Jr., William | AIAA | 2000


    PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF THE GASDYNAMIC MIRROR FUSION PROPULSION EXPERIMENT

    Emrich, W. J. / American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics / Society of Automotive Engineers et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2002


    First Results of the Gasdynamic Mirror Fusion Propulsion Experiment

    Emrich, W. J. / Institute for Space and Nuclear Power Studies | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2003