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This Defense Intelligence Reference Document, dated 1 November 2010, was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency's Defense Warning Office under the Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Applications program. It reviews fusion plasma physics, confinement methods and propulsion concepts that use aneutronic fusion fuels such as hydrogen and boron-11. It concludes that pulsed DPF or IEC thrusters may replace satellite ion thrusters in the near term. It also finds that aneutronic fusion propulsion will not be practical beyond the solar system without breakthrough propulsion physics.
From the source: Release of 2026-09-18 Incident: 11/1/10, Las Vegas, Nevada. Released with redactions. This document is a Defense Intelligence Reference Document (DIRD), a technical reference format used by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to capture baseline knowledge on a specific topic for later analytic use. DIRDs are best understood as reference and synthesis products rather than as original research. It is one of 38 DIRDs produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) between 2009 and 2011. Because AAWSAP’s scope permitted a broad range of supporting topics, not every DIRD in the series directly concerns aerospace systems or future threat assessment. The following summary reflects the DIRD’s scope and framing at the time of writing and should not be read as implying current validation of the concepts discussed. This DIRD revisits aneutronic fusion propulsion in a more systems-oriented manner, arguing that fusion concepts using low-neutron fuels such as proton-boron or helium-3 could become attractive for space propulsion because they reduce shielding burdens and may support direct conversion of charged-particle energy into thrust or onboard power. The report reviews the relevant fusion plasma physics and focuses on several candidate confinement approaches, then connects those concepts to possible applications in near-space, orbital, and interplanetary propulsion. It presents the most plausible nearer-term use as very high-power electric or plasma propulsion for satellites and deep-space missions rather than atmospheric flight or interstellar travel, while emphasizing that major obstacles remain in ignition, sustained confinement, system mass, power handling, fuel storage, launch integration, and end-to-end engineering.
- - - UNCLASSIFIED//FOR 0551CIAk Y8l!! Of\lLI Chapter 3 : Fusion Propulsion FUSION REACTORS FOR PROPULSION Controlled nuclear fusion reactors have been seriously studied since the late 1960s after tokomaks demonstrated a very promising improvement in temperature and confinement time that had potential to become power-producing reactors. After 15 years, such studies predicted that the size and complexity of a DT (deuterium tritium) fueled Tokamak would be prohibitively too large to be considered for aerospace applications. However, in the early 1990s when it became clear from large tokamak experimental results that controlled fusion for terrestrial power generation would require an indeterminate time to develop, a surge of interest in fusion-powered propulsion grew. All such studies abandoned the use of DT fusion fuels because of the need for heavy shielding for the 14-MeV neutrons and the requirement for launch safety and the additional complexity of breeding tritium. Only (D, 3He) (deuterium helium-3) and (p, 11 B) (hydrogen boron) fuels have been considered because of the higher specific powers achievable for air and space flight. Field- Reversed Configuration Reactors (U) The seminal study on fusion propulsion that developed specific design parameters was performed in 1993. 10 It reviewed previous studies and used a generic cylindrical fusion plasma model for analyzing the specific power for such a system using (D, 3He) fuel (shown in Figure 8). The estimated gross mass of the 968-MW reactor was 112 Mg with a corresponding mass of 999 Mg for a DT-fueled system, (lMg=l metric ton). Optimization of this conceptual design using the FRC plasma confinement using colliding beams has led to a much more compact configuration of 33 Mg producing 100 MW (shown in Figure 9). 11 This reactor's plasma confinement chamber has a length of 7 meters and diameter of 0.84 meters. Half of the plasma fusion products and unfused fuel is circulated through the magnetic separatrix to a direct converter while the other half is diverted and expelled to provide propulsive thrust. 12.---~---~-----~-~--, D-3He Long-Term cii 10 .--- - - -.:.:. ~ / ~ 8 ... /Q) ~ ' D-3He Mid-Term0 6 Ic.. ;.-:; () 4 '<3 IQ) a. 2Cl) /J D-T Mid-Term I' - - - -00 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 Plasma Temperature (keV) Figure 8. Specific Power as a Function of Plasma Temperature of Fusion Rocke\ 1 UNCLASSIFIED/ /FOR. orr1e1J1tt tl!H!! OHL'I"
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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 36 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.