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This Defense Intelligence Reference Document, dated 1 November 2010, was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency under its Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. It surveys propulsion technologies that include chemical, ion, and nuclear fission rockets, fusion schemes, aneutronic fusion, and antimatter propulsion. It also covers radiation shielding and speculates on research needs over the next 30 years for missions from low Earth orbit to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Alpha Centauri. The document concludes that aneutronic fusion promises to be an important mechanism for future space propulsion.
“Anderson”1 page
UNCLASSIFIED/ ff8A 8fflil.l1k WE'lii Si'IP Y it collapses and generates a magnetic pinch for a fraction of a second that has high enough temperatures to generate fusion in the diffuse gas. The production of neutrons in D-T fusion can be on the order of 10 13 neutrons. While this production may seem high, if this pulsed system were fired 10 times in 1 second, and all of the energy of the electrons and ions could be captured, the energy production would amount to only 280 watts. MUON-CATALYZED FUSION This method, sensationalized by Steven Jones at the University of Utah in the 1980s, makes use of the fact that certain material crystal shapes (hexagonal close pack, or HCP) tend to "hide" atoms of hydrogen in the interstitial space between atomic planes in the crystal. By diffusing deuterium into the crystal through electrolysis, fusion could be achieved. The famous scientist Sakarov observed this phenomenon as a way to account for the presence of He-3 in platinum. Platinum, palladium, and titanium are the materials that were used most often to demonstrate this technique. Initiating fusion by this method has been very poor. CAVITATION (BUBBLE) FUSION In water, vapor bubbles are produced when pressures drop below 2,300 pascals ( ~2% of atmospheric pressure) through a process called "cavitation." When these cavitation bubbles collapse, they produce high temperatures and pressures for a short period of time. Cavitation has been shown to release enough energy to pit ship propeller blades. In addition, heavy water (D2O) and deuterated acetone have been used to demonstrate that cavitation can cause particles from fusion. Unfortunately, to date, the performance of cavitation fusion systems has been low. ROCKET DESIGN USING FUSION ENERGY While nuclear fusion releases large amounts of energy for a minimal quantity of fuel, initiation of the fusion reaction means that fusion ignition dictates the design of the system. Possible spacecraft designs include pulsed nuclear explosions with impact plates or sails; plasma confinement methods that generate charged particles used directly for propulsion; and confinement methods that heat a propellant, like liquid hydrogen, to be ejected through a Laval nozzle. 17 UNCLASSIFIED/,'F8A 8FFI&I.«1k Wfilii a••b>t
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 50 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.