Pulsar Fusion

Private company working on nuclear fusion propulsion technology and advanced space propulsion systems.

Created: 2020-08-13

Updated: 2024-02-29

Company - Pulsar Fusion

Founded
Country: 2014; UK

Funding: ?

Website: https://www.pulsarfusion.com/

Social

Product/Service - Direct Fusion Drive (DFD)

Classification: Space Utilities

Category: Resources - Energy
Nuclear Fusion Power

Fields: Nuclear Power
Nuclear Propulsion

Status: Development

First launch: 2027

Pursuing D-He3 fusion for its off-grid possibilities such as defence, transport and space exploration.

Britain is poised to launch a nuclear fusion reactor into space by 2027.

The Direct Fusion Drive (DFD) is a compact nuclear fusion engine which could provide both thrust and electrical power for spaceships. This technology opens unprecedented possibilities to explore the solar system in a limited amount of time and with a very high payload to propellant masses ratio.

This engine is attractive for long missions where a lower thrust version of the engine, having a propellant mass ratio near unity, provides efficiencies that other engines cannot achieve.

Since DFD provides power as well as propulsion in one integrated device, it would also provide as much as 2 MW of power to the payloads upon arrival. Designers think that this technology can radically expand the science capability of planetary missions.

The Direct Fusion Drive is a revolutionary steady state fusion propulsion concept, based on a compact fusion reactor. It will provide power of the order of units of MW, providing both thrust of the order of 10−101N with specific impulses between 103− 105s and auxiliary power to the space system

Pulsar Fusion is presently committed to the construction of its initial prototype static DFD engine. After completing a State of the Art (SoA) assessment on DFD heating technology in 2021, further analysis was carried out by a panel of experts to finally make an informed decision on an initial design point for the system.

Pulsar has now proceeded to phase 3, the manufacture of the initial test unit. Static tests are to begin in 2023 followed by an In Orbit Demonstration (IOD) of the technology in 2027.

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