A magnetic confinement scheme is investigated as a potential propulsion device in which thrust is generated by a propellant heated by radiation emanating from a fusion plasma. The device in question is the gasdynamic mirror (GDM) machine in which a hot dense plasma is confined long enough to generate fusion energy while allowing a certain fraction of its charged particle population to go through one end to a direct converter. The energy of these particles is converted into electric power which is recirculated to sustain the steady state operation of the system. The injected power heats the plasma to thermonuclear temperatures where the resulting fusion energy appears a charged particle power, neutron power, and radiated power in the form of bremsstrahlung and synchrotron radiation. The neutron power can be converted through a thermal converter to electric power that can be combined with the direct converter power before being fed into the injector. The radiated power, on the other hand, can be used to heat a hydrogen propellant introduced into the system at a specified pressure and mass flow rate. This propellant can be pre-heated by regeneratively cooling the (mirror) nozzle or other components of the system if feasible, or by an electrothermal unit powered by portions of the recirculated power. Using a simple heat transfer model that ignores the heat flux to the wall, and assuming total absorption of radiation energy by the propellant it is shown that such a gas core rocket is capable of producing tens of kilonewtons of thrust and several thousands of seconds of specific impulse. It is also shown that the familiar Kelvin-Helmholtz instability which arises from the relative motion of the neutral hydrogen to the ionized fuel is not likely to occur in this system due to the presence of the confining magnetic field.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    A fusion-driven gas core nuclear rocket


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    Space technology and applications international forum - 1998 ; 1998 ; Albuquerque,New Mexico (USA)


    Published in:

    AIP Conference Proceedings ; 420 , 1 ; 1377-1384


    Publication date :

    1998-01-15


    Size :

    8 pages





    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



    A Fusion-Driven Gas Core Nuclear Rocket

    Kammash, T. / Godfroy, T. / University of New Mexico; School of Engineering; Institute for Space and Nuclear Power Studies | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1998



    The Fusion Driven Rocket

    Slough, John | IEEE | 2024


    Liquid core nuclear rocket

    BARRETT, JR., W. | AIAA | 1964