Method and apparatus to produce high specific impulse and moderate thrust from a fusion-powered rocket engine
Abstract
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.
- Inventors:
- Issue Date:
- Research Org.:
- Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1410285
- Patent Number(s):
- 9822769
- Application Number:
- 14/400,204
- Assignee:
- Princeton Satellite Systems (Plainsboro, NJ); The Trustees of Princeton University (Princeton, NJ)
- Patent Classifications (CPCs):
-
B - PERFORMING OPERATIONS B64 - AIRCRAFT B64G - COSMONAUTICS
F - MECHANICAL ENGINEERING F02 - COMBUSTION ENGINES F02K - JET-PROPULSION PLANTS
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-09CH11466
- Resource Type:
- Patent
- Resource Relation:
- Patent File Date: 2013 May 10
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
Citation Formats
Cohen, Samuel A., Pajer, Gary A., Paluszek, Michael A., and Razin, Yosef S. Method and apparatus to produce high specific impulse and moderate thrust from a fusion-powered rocket engine. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web.
Cohen, Samuel A., Pajer, Gary A., Paluszek, Michael A., & Razin, Yosef S. Method and apparatus to produce high specific impulse and moderate thrust from a fusion-powered rocket engine. United States.
Cohen, Samuel A., Pajer, Gary A., Paluszek, Michael A., and Razin, Yosef S. Tue .
"Method and apparatus to produce high specific impulse and moderate thrust from a fusion-powered rocket engine". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1410285.
@article{osti_1410285,
title = {Method and apparatus to produce high specific impulse and moderate thrust from a fusion-powered rocket engine},
author = {Cohen, Samuel A. and Pajer, Gary A. and Paluszek, Michael A. and Razin, Yosef S.},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {2017},
month = {11}
}
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