A system and method for producing and controlling high thrust and desirable specific impulse from a continuous fusion reaction is disclosed. The resultant relatively small rocket engine will have lower cost to develop, test, and operate that the prior art, allowing spacecraft missions throughout the planetary system and beyond. The rocket engine method and system includes a reactor chamber and a heating system for heating a stable plasma to produce fusion reactions in the stable plasma. Magnets produce a magnetic field that confines the stable plasma. A fuel injection system and a propellant injection system are included. The propellant injection system injects cold propellant into a gas box at one end of the reactor chamber, where the propellant is ionized into a plasma. The propellant and fusion products are directed out of the reactor chamber through a magnetic nozzle and are detached from the magnetic field lines producing thrust.
Method and apparatus to produce high specific impulse and moderate thrust from a fusion-powered rocket engine
2017-11-21
Patent
Electronic Resource
English
IPC: | F02K JET-PROPULSION PLANTS , Strahltriebwerke / B64G Raumfahrt , COSMONAUTICS / F03H PRODUCING A REACTIVE PROPULSIVE THRUST, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR , Erzeugung von Vortriebskraft [Schub] nach dem Prinzip des Rückstoßes, soweit nicht anderweitig vorgesehen / G21B Fusionsreaktoren , FUSION REACTORS |
High-Thrust-High-Specific Impulse Gasdynamic Fusion Propulsion System
Online Contents | 1997
|Liquid-fueled, Laser-powered, N-Class Thrust Space Engine with Variable Specific Impulse
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2008
|Effect of Regenerative Cooling on Rocket Engine Specific Impulse
Online Contents | 1994
|