Ross Cortez

Case and Development Path for Fusion Propulsion

This paper discusses the importance of fusion propulsion for interplanetary space travel, illustrates why the magnetoinertial fusion parameter space may facilitate the most rapid, economic path for development, justifies the choice of pulsed Z pinch, and provides a potential development path leading up to a technical readiness level 9 system. Round trips of less than one year to Mars are only possible using fusion propulsion systems. Such a system will require an onboard nuclear fission reactor for reliable startups, and so fission and fusion developments for space are mutually beneficial. The paper reviews the more than 50 year history of fusion research and summarizes results from a recent study of the fusion parameter space for terrestrial power, which suggests magnetoinertial fusion can provide the smallest, most economical approach for a fusion propulsion system. Emerging experimental data and theory show pulsed Z-pinch fusion solves some of the most deleterious instabilities and scales to fusion bre...

Design of Z-pinch and Dense Plasma Focus Powered Vehicles

Z-pinch and Dense Plasma Focus (DPF) are two promising techniques for bringing fusion power to the field of in-space propulsion. A design team comprising of engineers and scientists from UAHuntsville, NASAs George C. Marshall Space Flight Center and the University of Wisconsin developed concept vehicles for a crewed round trip mission to Mars and an interstellar precursor mission. Outlined in this paper are vehicle concepts, complete with conceptual analysis of the mission profile, operations, structural and thermal analysis and power/avionics design. Additionally engineering design of the thruster itself is included. The design efforts adds greatly to the fidelity of estimates for power density (alpha) and overall performance for these thruster concepts