Startup Says Its Nuclear Fusion Rocket Could Cut Time to Mars in Half

A British startup called Pulsar Fusion has come up with a wild new concept for a nuclear fusion-powered space rocket that, it claims, could significantly cut down the time it takes to travel to Mars in half.

As CNN reports, the UK Space Agency-funded company's Sunbird rocket harnesses the power of nuclear fusion, the same process that powers stars, as a form of propulsion.

"It’s very unnatural to do fusion on Earth," Pulsar founder and CEO Richard Dinan told CNN. "Fusion doesn’t want to work in an atmosphere. Space is a far more logical, sensible place to do fusion, because that’s where it wants to happen anyway."

It's important to note that the propulsion device is still almost entirely theoretical. But Pulsar sees potential.

The firm is hoping to achieve fusion in orbit for the first time in 2027, a moonshot plan that could put far-flung destinations in our solar system within much easier reach — if everything goes perfectly according to plan, at least.

Instead of splitting atoms to release copious amounts of energy, fusion energy involves combining isotopes into heavier ones. For decades, scientists have tried to replicate this process inside special reactors, using immense amounts of heat and pressure.

Turning that idea into a viable source of renewable energy has proven extremely difficult, particularly at a meaningful scale. Scientists are still breaking their heads over how to do so efficiently, and are only starting to devise methods that allow them to harvest more energy than what they had to put in to get the reaction started.

In space, however, where fusion reactors in the form of stars and our Sun, are abundant, the situation could look quite different. Instead of having to harness the swirling plasma inside circular reactors, Pulsar Fusion's rocket would have a "nuclear exhaust," shooting out protons from an expensive type of fuel called helium-3.

In the long run, Pulsar Fusion envisions an entire gas station-like system.

"We launch them into space, and we would have a charging station where they could sit and then meet your ship," Dinand told CNN. "You turn off your inefficient combustion engines, and use nuclear fusion for the greater part of your journey."

"Ideally, you’d have a station somewhere near Mars, and you’d have a station on low Earth orbit," he added, "and the (Sunbirds) would just go back and forth."

As Live Science reports, each Sunbird would be around 100 feet in length and feature "tank-like" armor plating to protect them from cosmic radiation and micrometeorites. Each rocket could cost upwards of $90 million, a steep price in large part due to its unusual fuel source.

For its inaugural proof of concept test in 2027, the company is hoping to construct a "linear fusion experiment" to test "key technological components." A fully functional prototype could be ready four to five years after that — if the company doesn't run out of funding by then.

"If we are going to be the species that actually get to other planets, then exhaust speeds are pretty much the most important thing," Dinan said during a space convention earlier this year, as quoted by Live Science. "In terms of what can be [theoretically] produced in exhaust speeds, fusion is king."

More on fusion: Fusion Thruster Startup Anticipates "First Town on Mars"

The post Startup Says Its Nuclear Fusion Rocket Could Cut Time to Mars in Half appeared first on Futurism.