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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/ /F81il 8FFI1il.t.k Wfili &,.kY are 800 keV and 300 keV, respectively, much higher than the SO keV required for D-T neutronic fusion. /H 0 83 /He ~0/83 /He /1B ®/~ 83 /He 3x /He+8.7MeV Figure 10. The Fusion of Hydrogen-1 and Boron-11 Produces Three Alpha Particles Fortunately, both lithium-6 and boron-11 are readily available, while tritium must be manufactured due to its 12.6-year halflife. Lithium-6 represents 7.5% of all lithium on Earth. Lithium is mined at Silverpeak, Nevada. Another concern in choosing an effective aneutronic fusion scheme is bremmstrahlung, or "braking radiation." This term refers to the x-rays emitted as electrons pass through metals and interact with electrons in the outer shells of the metal atoms. In order to ignite a fusion reaction, the gases must be heated to the point where they ionize and form a plasma. Electrons stripped from the ions in the plasma will interact with the walls of the chamber that house the plasma and bremmstrahlung x-rays will result. Bremmstrahlung is a parasitic process that decreases the temperature of the plasma and reduces the chance of fusion. While the two favored fusion schemes, p-Li6 and p- B11, can generate significant bremmstrahlung losses, there are techniques proposed using electromagnets to direct both electrons and ions to minimize x-ray production. 19 UNCLASSIFIED/ /PSR: err1e1111t ~!H! SHLY
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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.