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Significant progress has been made towards laser-driven fusion ignition via different schemes, including direct and indirect central ignition, fast ignition, shock ignition, and impact ignition schemes. However, to reach ignition…
Directed energy for planetary defense is now a viable option and is superior in many ways to other proposed technologies, being able to defend the Earth against all known threats. This paper presents basic ideas behind a directed energy…
Spin-polarized fusion has the potential to lower the radiation shielding and ignition requirements for fusion rockets while simultaneously increasing the fusion fuel burnup and provide better momentum coupling to a spacecraft. This…
In contrast to the broad stream of sustainable developments on fusion energy, new aspects are developed now by applying ultra-short, ultra-powerful laser pulses in a plasma-block ignition scheme by avoiding the well known difficulties of…
A chaser satellite equipped with robotic arms can capture space debris and manipulate it for use in more advanced missions such as refueling and deorbiting. To facilitate capturing, a caging-based strategy has been proposed to simplify the…
High power Earth and orbital-based directed energy (DE) systems pose a potential hazard to Earth orbiting spacecraft. The use of very high power, large aperture DE systems to propel spacecraft is being pursued as the only known, feasible…
There are many indications that anthropogenic global warming poses a serious threat to our civilization and its ecological support systems. Ideally this problem will be overcome by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Various space-based…
The neutron yields observed in inertial confinement fusion experiments for higher convergence ratios are about two orders of magnitude smaller than the neutron yields predicted by one-dimensional models, the discrepancy being attributed to…
A new breakthrough in jet propulsion technology since the invention of the jet engine is achieved. The first critical tests for future air-breathing magneto-plasma propulsion systems have been successfully completed. In this regard, it is…
New concept for reducing dose radiation exposure, which helps to decrease the duration and cost of deep space human missions is introduced. This concept can be efficiently realized, using modern materials, such as carbon nanotube…
This paper presents the design of a small aerial robot for inhabited microgravity environments, such as orbiting space stations (e.g., ISS). In particular, we target a fleet of robots, called Space CoBots, for collaborative tasks with…
It is demonstrated that the development of a nuclear fusion rocket engine based on a D $-$ $^{3}$He (Deterium-Helium 3) technology will allow to travel in the solar system and beyond. The Direct Fusion Drive (DFD) is the D $-$…
Splitting by atomic bombs an asteroid in flight is the best way to deflect its trajectory. How and when it should be done is described.
This paper studies interacting massive particles on the de Sitter background. It is found that the vacuum acts as an inversely populated medium which is able to generate stimulated radiation. Without back reaction (not considered in this…
Interstellar comets arrive with key ingredients for deep-space platforms already in place: volatile inventories convertible to propellant, natural rotation providing continuous attitude variation, and hyperbolic trajectories that carry them…
The rapidly growing base of observational data for supernova explosions of massive stars demands theoretical explanations. Central of these is a self-consistent model for the physical mechanism that provides the energy to start and drive…
Space propulsion is unique among many proposed applications of the Dense Plasma Focus in being critically dependent on the availability of a scaling theory that is well-grounded in physics, in conformity with existing experimental knowledge…
The operation of multirotors in crowded environments requires a highly reliable takeoff method, as failures during takeoff can damage more valuable assets nearby. The addition of a ballistic launch system imposes a deterministic path for…
Why do we use nano-antennas for fusion? In three sentences: The present laser induced fusion plans use extreme mechanical shock compression to get one hotspot and then ignition. Still fusion burning spreads slower than expansion, and…
A method for asteroid deflection that makes use of a spacecraft moving back and forth on a segment of a Keplerian orbit about the asteroid is studied with the aim of optimizing the initial gross mass of the spacecraft. The corresponding…