Related papers: Plasma Core Rocket Engines
Graphene hydrogels were created and loaded with uranyl nitrate or thorium nitrate and freeze-dried to produce graphene aerogel nuclear fuels. These aerogels had densities between 0.018-0.035 g/cm3 and consisted of ~7.3 +- 0.5%…
The operation of a nuclear power station powering Deep Space transport is presented in the paper. The power station consists of a Gas Core Reactor (GCR) with magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) generator. A new model of gas core reactor which has…
The supercritical, reactor core melting and nuclear fuel leaking accidents have troubled fission reactors for decades, and greatly limit their extensive applications. Now these troubles are still open. Here we first show a possible perfect…
Inertial Confinement Fusion is a promising option to provide massive, clean, and affordable energy for mankind in the future. The present status of research and development is hindered by hydrodynamical instabilities occurring at the…
A new concept for spinning unmagnetized plasma is demonstrated experimentally. Plasma is confined by an axisymmetric multi-cusp magnetic field and biased cathodes are used to drive currents and impart a torque in the magnetized edge.…
We have observed spontaneous formation of a stationary vortex structure in a rotating magnetized plasma produced in a linear ECR plasma device named HYPER-I at National Institute for Fusion Science. The vortex appears with a deep…
In this article, we present our recent experiments on fission fragment rocket propulsion, and on an innovative new design for an alpha particle detection system that has been inspired by these rocketry results. Our test platform, which…
Earthquakes are a great challenge for the safety of nuclear reactors. To address this challenge, we need to better understand how the reactor core responds to seismic forcing. The reactor core is made of fuel assemblies, which are…
Large-payload deep space missions are impractical with current rocket propulsion technologies in use. Chemical thrusters yield a high thrust but low efficiency while ion thrusters are efficient but provide too little thrust for large…
Recent progress towards the non-fission ignition of thermonuclear micro-explosions raises the prospect for a revival of the nuclear bomb propulsion idea, both for the fast transport of large payloads within the solar system and the launch…
The confinement of heat in the core of a magnetic fusion reactor is optimised using a multidimensional optimisation algorithm. For the first time in such a study, the loss of heat due to turbulence is modelled at every stage using…
Using a combination of laser-plasma interactions and magnetic confinement configurations, a conceptual fusion reactor is proposed in this paper. Our reactor consists of the following: 1) A background plasma of boron11 and hydrogen ions,…
Future advanced nuclear rocket propulsion, and the availability of new nuclear power cycle designs, will benefit substantially from the large current investment in alternative nuclear energy that is underway today. We propose a new nuclear…
Extreme laser pulses driving non-equilibrium processes in high density plasmas permit an increase of the fusion of hydrogen with the boron isotope 11 by nine orders of magnitude of the energy gains above the classical values. This is the…
Emerging studies are geared toward exploring new methods of nuclear rocket propulsion to provide more efficient space transit beyond Earth's orbit. One method is to employ a Fission Fragment Rocket Engine utilizing fissionable layers…
Nuclear reactors are often modeled as inflexible baseload generators with fixed downtimes and restrictive ramping constraints. In practice, however, a reactor's operational flexibility is closely tied to its fuel cycle and associated…
Elementary concepts from general physics and thermodynamics have been used to analyze rocket propulsion. Making some reasonable assumptions, an expression for the exit velocity of the gases is found. From that expression one can conclude…
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…
There is a strong motivation to develop high-power output nuclear fission reactors (around 1 MWe) for space applications, such as high-payload missions and long-duration missions beyond Mars, where the reduced solar flux makes using…
We show that when a solid plasma foil with a density gradient on the front surface is irradiated by an intense laser pulse at a grazing angle, around 80 degrees, a relativistic electron vortex is excited in the near-critical-density layer…