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Abstract

A system and method for employing centrifugal confinement fusion for in-space propulsion and power generation is disclosed. Centrifugal confinement represents an advancement beyond traditional mirror devices by further confining the fusion fuel and inhibiting instability growth, while still offering a simple magnet geometry and allowing a controllable fraction of the charged fusion products to leave each end of the mirror. These charged products are used to directly heat a higher mass flow rate, lower temperature propellant in the aft direction, which is then expanded through a magnetic nozzle to produce thrust. The lower temperature of the exhaust flow supports an increased level of collisionality to promote plume detachment, and the level of thrust can be traded against specific impulse for mission optimization. Power from the forward flowing charged species is directly converted to electricity to help drive the rotating plasma. Additional power conversion systems are employed to extract energy from the neutron products of fusion fuels such as D-T and D-D, or from the Bremsstrahlung radiation of fuels such as D-³He and p-¹¹B.

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First Claim