A new aerospace company from the UK is developing a fusion rocket. They believe this rocket can greatly reduce the time it takes for astronauts to go to Mars and other faraway destinations. This could open up opportunities for humans to visit places currently not easily accessible.
However, the main difficulty is that spending a long time in microgravity (very weak gravity) and being exposed to cosmic radiation can lead to significant health problems for astronauts.
NASA, the space agency, must make sure that the trips to Mars in the future are not too long. This is because astronauts should return back home in good health, and a duration of less than four years seems to be the target, reported Big Think.
With the existing rockets, it will require around seven months for astronauts to travel to Mars. When we consider the time needed to return to Earth, almost one-third of a Mars astronaut’s mission is spent just traveling back and forth, according to Big Think.
Fusion offers a thousand times the power of conventional ion thrusters
“A fusion rocket could allow us to send people to see the rings of Saturn or the moons of Jupiter,” stated Dr. Adam Baker, representing Pulsar Fusion.
In our expanding space activities, there is a significant demand for faster propulsion. Fusion technology provides a thousand times more power compared to the regular ion thrusters currently utilized in space, explained CEO Richard Dinan.
Fusion happens when two atoms come together, resulting in a tremendous release of energy. Moreover, this process doesn’t produce harmful emissions. For a long time, capturing nuclear fusion has been a sought-after goal in the field of clean energy research.
Different teams have succeeded in initiating fusion reactions for a short period by confining super hot plasma within electromagnetic fields. However, the current challenge lies in finding ways to maintain these reactions over time.
Difficult to manage turbulent plasma in fusion
Researchers have been unable to manage the turbulent plasma as it is heated to extremely high temperatures reaching hundreds of millions of degrees. Consequently, the reaction comes to a halt, explained James Lambert, Chief Financial Officer at Pulsar Fusion, in a statement to Space Daily.
Pulsar Fusion, a UK-based space firm, is building a nuclear fusion-based rocket engine that could exceed temperatures on the Sun. The construction of the largest-ever fusion rocket engine has begun, and its exhaust speeds could exceed 500,000 miles per hour.@elonmusk pic.twitter.com/2OCdXmbKUy
— JeepsyX (@JeepsyX) July 12, 2023
Pulsar Fusion’s strategy involves crafting a fusion rocket. By utilizing the atomic reaction, they aim to achieve exhaust speeds that would drive the spacecraft forward at an incredibly rapid pace of five hundred thousand miles per hour.
To put it in perspective, the highest speed a crewed rocket has achieved is 24,791 miles per hour, reported Big Think.