Scientists develop fusion rocket technology that could get to Mars in 30 days

hi
Scientist at the University of Washington say they have built all the pieces for a fusion-powered rocket system that could get a crew to Mars in 30 days and they just have to put it together to see if it works

I hope it works they are gonna try a fusion demonstration within a year. Wow if we can get to mars in 30 days we can send probes to all the planets in our solars system alot faster
cosmiclog.nbcnews.com...

Researchers at the University of Washington say they've built all the pieces for a fusion-powered rocket system that could get a crew to Mars in 30 days. Now they just have to put the pieces together and see if they work.

"If we can pull off a fusion demonstration in a year, with hundreds of thousands of dollars ... there might be a better, cheaper, faster path to using fusion in other applications," John Slough, a research assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics, told NBC News.

Billions upon billions of dollars have been spent on fusion energy research over the past half-century — at places like the National Ignition Facility in California, where scientists are zapping deuterium-tritium pellets with lasers; Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, the home of the world's most powerful laboratory radiation source; and the ITER experimental facility in France, where the world's biggest magnetic plasma chamber is being built.

Yeah, this will be the last time we hear of this.

Fusion power is not something they want the average guy to think is doable, cheap or renewable.

~Tenth

reply to post by goou111


Humanity at its best. Please, take my money. All of it!!

reply to post by goou111

Need that in miles? The closest possible distance from Earth to Mars in miles is 33.9 million miles.

Linky.....www.universetoday.com...

So unless my math is wrong, that is 47,083 MPH....

How fast can conventional rockets go?
Any rocket can achieve a very high speed if it accelerates for a long time. A conventional rocket has a hard time doing this because a huge amount of fuel must be carried into space in order for this to happen. This may make the rocket too heavy to lift off. Conventional rockets are generally designed to meet the speeds necessary for them to go where they need to go, and not go much faster.

Generally, a conventional rocket has to be going about 17,000 mph for it to achieve orbit; otherwise known as LEO -- Low Earth Orbit. This is the minimum speed for a spacegoing rocket. The farther from the Earth, the faster it needs to go. We list some other velocities for comparison:

Flight Plan
speed required
Earth to LEO (low Earth orbit) 17,000 mph
Earth to Earth escape 24,200 mph
Earth to lunar orbit 25,700 mph
Earth to GEO (geosynchronous Earth orbit) 26,400 mph
Earth to solar escape 36,500 mph

With increasing speed it becomes harder and harder to gain another mile per hour. This is because the amount of fuel one has to carry becomes really big, and it becomes difficult and expensive to lift that much fuel into space. Solar escape velocity is nearing the practical limit of how fast one can move with conventional rockets.

LINKY.....www.qrg.northwestern.edu...


So how does this fusion system get us there 8 times faster when it is not 8 times faster?

Sorry I am ignorant, but it is just a question.....

Originally posted by Chrisfishenstein
reply to post by goou111

 

Need that in miles? The closest possible distance from Earth to Mars in miles is 33.9 million miles.

Linky.....www.universetoday.com...

So unless my math is wrong, that is 47,083 MPH....

How fast can conventional rockets go?
Any rocket can achieve a very high speed if it accelerates for a long time. A conventional rocket has a hard time doing this because a huge amount of fuel must be carried into space in order for this to happen. This may make the rocket too heavy to lift off. Conventional rockets are generally designed to meet the speeds necessary for them to go where they need to go, and not go much faster.

Generally, a conventional rocket has to be going about 17,000 mph for it to achieve orbit; otherwise known as LEO -- Low Earth Orbit. This is the minimum speed for a spacegoing rocket. The farther from the Earth, the faster it needs to go. We list some other velocities for comparison:

Flight Plan
speed required
Earth to LEO (low Earth orbit) 17,000 mph
Earth to Earth escape 24,200 mph
Earth to lunar orbit 25,700 mph
Earth to GEO (geosynchronous Earth orbit) 26,400 mph
Earth to solar escape 36,500 mph

With increasing speed it becomes harder and harder to gain another mile per hour. This is because the amount of fuel one has to carry becomes really big, and it becomes difficult and expensive to lift that much fuel into space. Solar escape velocity is nearing the practical limit of how fast one can move with conventional rockets.

LINKY.....www.qrg.northwestern.edu...


So how does this fusion system get us there 8 times faster when it is not 8 times faster?

Sorry I am ignorant, but it is just a question.....

The only answer I have is the article said it does

so we would get to the moon using this technology pretty quick?


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

reply to post by Chrisfishenstein


Because with fusion power you can accelerate for a much much longer period of time, without having to have huge amounts of fuel. Right now, to get to Mars you have to accelerate out of Earth's orbit, and then slingshot around other gravity sources to accelerate. A fusion rocket leaves Earth orbit, points to Mars, and starts firing its engine, and fires the engine for most of the way there.

Originally posted by fatpastyhead
so we would get to the moon using this technology pretty quick?

 

Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

 

I dont know how much quicke,r but it seems like we could get to the moon in a couple hours lol

Chances are the ship would have to be assembled in orbit and never land. Rather it would be a interplanetary shuttle and would carry a lander or landers with standard rockets for people and cargo to get on Mars.

Is it going to be like the Turboencabulator?

reply to post by Zaphod58


Thank You for that answer......Like I said I wasn't doubting or anything, just a question from the ignorant....

I don't understand how that all works but the math didn't add up!

reply to post by Chrisfishenstein


Yeah, it's something that I don't have a huge grasp of either, but it's really interesting to see the technology maturing. Ion engines are another one that are really cool, but they are really slow to accelerate.

reply to post by goou111


This is a good look. I personally think we brag too much rather than inform/update(when I say that I mean the U.S.A.), but I will save that for another thread . This is my first time hearing about this, I have heard of other methods that seem to be just as 'practical'.

I'm no expert on the subject, but couldn't this knowledge on a smaller scale be used for missiles as well???
just a thought.

great info, ty and peace

What I always wonder is how one works out the braking system. If we could get to the moon in 2 hours as specd above, it seems to me about halfway through the trip at those speeds, one would have to start applying reverse thrust in order not to overshoot. Anyone got the procedures for slowing down?

reply to post by wildespace


LOL

en.wikipedia.org...

Engineering humor.

Originally posted by Chrisfishenstein


So how does this fusion system get us there 8 times faster when it is not 8 times faster?

Sorry I am ignorant, but it is just a question.....

My guess would be, that the additional performance of this rocket allows the craft to have a more efficient path to Mars.

The Earth, Mars, and other celestial bodies aren't in a fixed position, so if Earth launches a rocket it doesn't travel a fixed distance to mars. It's shooting at a moving target (Mars) from a moving starting point (Earth)

I'm not a huge expert on all of this, and I'm not sure what specific paths Mars-bound craft usually take, but I know many times they don't send the craft straight to the target planet. They shoot the rocket off, and the craft will sometimes make an orbit around another planet or object to give it a speed boost and change its trajectory. Then the craft will intercept Mars.

Having a craft go straight from Earth to Mars would cut down on the distance the craft has to actually travel, which would allow the travel time to be 8 times faster, without the actual speed of the craft being 8 times faster.

Basically, the distances between Earth and Mars are not the actual distances traveled by a mars-bound craft, the distance traveled is actually much longer due to all the course changes that need to take place. Cutting down on this would allow a much faster trip, as not only is the craft traveling faster, but the distance it needs to travel is shorter. In order to reach Mars they don't just wait until Mars is close, and then shoot directly at Mars. They basically put the craft into an orbit around the sun which would bring it's orbit to intersect that of Mars at a given time. As speed increases the ability to change the flight pattern to a shorter one increases as well.

I hope this makes sense... and I hope someone with more knowledge could explain it a bit more eloquently.

reply to post by minkmouse


Sure use aerobraking

en.wikipedia.org...

Aerobraking is a spaceflight maneuver that reduces the high point of an elliptical orbit (apoapsis) by flying the vehicle through the atmosphere at the low point of the orbit (periapsis). The resulting drag slows the spacecraft. Aerobraking is used when a spacecraft requires a low orbit after arriving at a body with an atmosphere, and it requires less fuel than does the direct use of a rocket engine.

reply to post by minkmouse



I imagine you would just flip that ***** around and fire the engine in the other direction for the required amount of time.

Originally posted by minkmouse
What I always wonder is how one works out the braking system. If we could get to the moon in 2 hours as specd above, it seems to me about halfway through the trip at those speeds, one would have to start applying reverse thrust in order not to overshoot. Anyone got the procedures for slowing down?

I believe they use a certain amount of fuel in order to slow down, firing thrusters to slow it's approach, but that they also approach the target planet/body at an angle where instead of the craft just blasting past the planet, their approach brings them into orbit around the body, which basically uses the body's gravity as a breaking system on the craft

Oh, great, all they need is _...just put it together?"
What is this Leggo science?

You folks go ahead with any type of "rocket" (thrust propulsion) you want to develop. But in truth, you ain't goin' anywhere with that old technology regardless of how out you spew the flames out the back. Listen to a dying man that knew what's what, Ben Rich Lockheed Skunk Works chief from 1976 to 1991 supposedly said to a fellow engineer as he was near dearth in 1995 from cancer:

'We already have the means to travel among the stars, but these technologies are locked up in black projects and it would take an act of God to ever get them out to benefit humanity... Anything you can imagine we already know how to do."

There should be no doubt but what he was speaking about the physics of UFOs and how we are using that technology not for humanities sake but for weapons of war, namely fleets of the black triangles.