This seems very weak on specifics

[james_davis_nicoll]

And the claim about 30 to 90 days trips seems very familiar.

University of Washington researchers and scientists at a Redmond-based space-propulsion company are currently building components of a fusion-powered rocket, which could enable astronauts to travel to Earth’s neighboring planet Mars within weeks instead of months, at speeds considerably faster than feasible until now. The current travel speeds using fuel rockets make Mars travel a journey of about four years but the new fusion technology being tested by researchers at the University of Washington promises that in 30 to 90 days.

Comments

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

It is a variation on VASIMER technology - small amounts of gas shot out the back end at very high speeds. Low but constant thrust.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

According to the other article linked below, it clearly isn't. It's some sort of fusion pulse rocket that looks like it doesn't require break even or better power production from fusion. It's obviously an odd sort of fusion rocket, since it would require a fairly hefty source of electricity to power it and would generate none of its own power, but it sounds remarkably plausible.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a relative of Project Longshot, where a fission reactor was to drive (D-He3) fusion pulses that propelled the spacecraft. We know how to do fission, and we know how to do fusion that squirts out of confinement... Kind of making a strength out of our failures.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Pretty much. Back in the 80s, I read something that described a fusion rocket as a leaky, poorly contained fusion reactor and suggested that they might be easier to build that a working fusion reactor. It would be pretty nifty if this turned out to be correct. If the ISP is considerably better than VASIMR and the thrust is at all good (ie better than an ion drive) then this could be pretty handy.

Being able to get a good-sized automated lander to Europa in under a year strikes me as being at least as nifty as getting humans to Mars, and if it works, this could presumably manage both.

[neowolf2.livejournal.com]

Let me put in yet another plug for trans-plutonian planets. Find a Mars size body out at 100+ AU, and it could be the best place in the solar system to mine 3He (which it could retain in its atmosphere, assuming its thermosphere had high enough emissivity.)

You'd need a fusion rocket to get out there and back in acceptable time, but presumably if you're mining 3He then fusion reactors are already working.

[montedavis.livejournal.com]

a fairly hefty source of electricity to power it

Electricity is electrons, so obviously by Moore's Law we will have gigawatts of electricity in an iPod-sized package by mid-afternoon next Thursday. QED.

[derekl1963.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's VASIMER like in that too... it's promises wonderful things - if only they could figure out how to power the damm thing.

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

Let me clarify - the thrust levels are VASIMER-ish, and the idea of small amounts of high-velocity gas is VASIMER-ish.

It's VASIMER except (if it works) better.

[sean o'hara (from livejournal.com)]

No, no, their claims are 100% accurate -- the rocket they're building will absolutely be able to travel to Mars in a few weeks once they have a fusion reactor to power it.

[hattifattener]

Building "components of" a rocket is awfully vague, isn't it? Maybe they're just building the air processing plant. "Hmm, this thing won't work for more than a few months. I guess we're building it for a fusion-powered Mars rocket!" :)

Anyway, the researcher actually does make some claim of a possibly-developable-into-usefulness fusion engine: Here is the UW press release which, while still rather optimistic, at least has more details.

I don't know much about them rocketin' physics but it does look kind of like VASIMR with an inertial-confinement-fusion stage added.

[montedavis.livejournal.com]

Building components of a rocket has kept HOTOL and then Skylon credible -- in some circles, for some values of "credible" -- for 30+ years. Why, there was a breakthrough just last fall!

[harvey-rrit.livejournal.com]

Fusion?

Let us all join together in a rousing chorus of REAL SOON NOW!

In the time since I first heard that Fusion Is Ten Years Away, aluminized Mylar lightsails could have taken people to Mars and back at least six times.

Fusion is still ten years away.

At least we're not losing ground.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

You're confusing fusion generation of electricity with the actual proposal.

We've had fusion for decades, it's called H-bombs. You can do fusion with tabletop equipment. Fusion *power*, no... but they seem to be doing externally driven fusion propulsion.

[harvey-rrit.livejournal.com]

No I'm not.

You're confusing concise expression with ignorance.

[neowolf2.livejournal.com]

If their scheme isn't above breakeven, it's pointless. You might as well use the electricity input to just drive an ordinary electric thruster.

Since we don't even have breakeven on Earth, color me skeptical. It MIGHT make sense if we ever achieve breakeven in a way that's not economical for power production (due to cost of the one-shot pulse units, for example), but still economical for propulsion.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

But they only need thermal breakeven, not electric power breakeven. Lower bar.

And I'm not sure they need thermal breakeven.

thruster: you spend 100 Joules heating some gas.

Longshot: you spend 100 Joules causing gas to fuse and generate 50 Joules of extra energy. Not breakeven... but where is the original 100 Joules going? It's not like the fusion absorbs the energy. I think you end up with 150 Joules of hot gas, a net plus. Sort of a fusion afterburner.

Also a possibility that induced fusion is a way of converting power into very hot gas and high delta-vee.

[nelc.livejournal.com]

And the claim about 30 to 90 days trips seems very familiar

They're probably pulling the conceptual mission specs from the same NASA study. Maybe they could build a vehicle that'll get there in 20–60 days, maybe it'll be more like 60–180 days. Who'd know at this stage?

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

I have to tell my buddy with the quarter-shrinking machine about this.

This is just like his machine, except the quarter is made out of lithium, it incorporates fusion fuel, some combination of ohmic heating and nuclear reaction vaporizes, nay, plasmafies the quarter, and the whole works is supposed to be enclosed in a magnetic nozzle that persuades it to depart via the rear of the spacecraft.

Apparently Prof. Slough had a poster at the NIAC meeting I attended a couple of weeks ago; alas, I missed it, spending the available time talking to other researchers. (About magnetic radiation shielding, Europa subs, asteroid-killer spacecraft, and a very peculiar form of artificial gravity.)

Here's a slightly more technical press release.

Here's a PDF of last year's presentation, which I have yet to read.

[gohover.livejournal.com]

The reference to "a very peculiar form of artificial gravity" really sparked my curiosity.

I gather from your NIAC link that this form of artificial gravity consists of gyroscopes attached to the arms and legs of a jumpsuit, right?

The developers mention earth-bound uses, and by intently studying the artwork here
http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=ii&q=variable+vector+countermeasure+suit
I came to the conclusion that the jumpsuit can be reprogrammed to teach people the fine art of kung fu fighting. Cool!