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NASA's Proposed Plasma Rocket Would Get Us to Mars in 2 Months

The future of space travel depends on our ability to reach celestial pit stops faster and more efficiently. As such, NASA is working with a technology development company on a new propulsion system that could drop off humans on Mars in a relatively speedy two months’ time rather than the current nine month journey required to reach the Red Planet.

NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program recently selected six promising projects for additional funding and development, allowing them to graduate to the second stage of development. The new “science fiction-like concepts,” as described by John Nelson, NIAC program executive at NASA, include a lunar railway system and fluid-based telescopes, as well as a pulsed plasma rocket.

The potentially groundbreaking propulsion system is being developed by Arizona-based Howe Industries. To reach high velocities within a shorter period of time, the pulsed plasma rocket would use nuclear fission—the release of energy from atoms splitting apart—to generate packets of plasma for thrust.

It would essentially produce a controlled jet of plasma to help propel the rocket through space. Using the new propulsion system, and in terms of thrust, the rocket could potentially generate up to 22,481 pounds of force (100,000 Newtons) with a specific impulse (Isp) of 5,000 seconds, for remarkably high fuel efficiency.

It’s not an entirely new concept. NASA began developing its own version back in 2018 under the name Pulsed Fission-Fusion (PuFF). PuFF relied on a device commonly used to compress laboratory plasmas to high pressures for very short timescales, called z-Pinch, to produce thrust. The pulsed plasma rocket, however, is smaller, simpler, and more affordable, according to NASA .

The space agency claims that the propulsion system’s high efficiency could allow for crewed missions to Mars to be completed within two months. As it stands today with commonly used propulsion systems, a trip to Mars takes around nine months. The less time humans can spend traveling through space, the better. Shorter periods of exposure to space radiation and microgravity could help mitigate its effects on the human body.

The pulsed plasma rocket would also be capable of carrying much heavier spacecraft, which can be then equipped with shielding against galactic cosmic rays for the crew on board.

Phase 2 of NIAC is focused on assessing the neutronics of the system (how the motion of the spacecraft interacts with the plasma), designing the spacecraft, power system, and necessary subsystems, analyzing the magnetic nozzle capabilities, and determining trajectories and benefits of the pulsed plasma rocket, according to NASA.

The new propulsion system has the potential to revolutionize crewed spaceflight, helping humans make it to Mars without the toil of the trip itself.

For more spaceflight in your life, follow us on X and bookmark Gizmodo’s dedicated Spaceflight page .

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NASA wants to build a new rocket that could get to Mars in just 2 months

The space agency is investing in the development of a propulsion system that uses nuclear power to create plasma bursts.

The future of space travel depends on our ability to reach celestial pit stops faster and more efficiently. As such, NASA is working with a technology development company on a new propulsion system that could drop off humans on Mars in a relatively speedy two months’ time rather than the current nine month journey required to reach the Red Planet.

Related Content

NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program recently selected six promising projects for additional funding and development, allowing them to graduate to the second stage of development. The new “science fiction-like concepts,” as described by John Nelson, NIAC program executive at NASA, include a lunar railway system and fluid-based telescopes, as well as a pulsed plasma rocket.

The potentially groundbreaking propulsion system is being developed by Arizona-based Howe Industries. To reach high velocities within a shorter period of time, the pulsed plasma rocket would use nuclear fission—the release of energy from atoms splitting apart—to generate packets of plasma for thrust.

It would essentially produce a controlled jet of plasma to help propel the rocket through space. Using the new propulsion system, and in terms of thrust, the rocket could potentially generate up to 22,481 pounds of force (100,000 Newtons) with a specific impulse (Isp) of 5,000 seconds, for remarkably high fuel efficiency.

It’s not an entirely new concept. NASA began developing its own version back in 2018 under the name Pulsed Fission-Fusion (PuFF). PuFF relied on a device commonly used to compress laboratory plasmas to high pressures for very short timescales, called z-Pinch, to produce thrust. The pulsed plasma rocket, however, is smaller, simpler, and more affordable, according to NASA .

The space agency claims that the propulsion system’s high efficiency could allow for crewed missions to Mars to be completed within two months. As it stands today with commonly used propulsion systems, a trip to Mars takes around nine months. The less time humans can spend traveling through space, the better. Shorter periods of exposure to space radiation and microgravity could help mitigate its effects on the human body.

The pulsed plasma rocket would also be capable of carrying much heavier spacecraft, which can be then equipped with shielding against galactic cosmic rays for the crew on board.

Phase 2 of NIAC is focused on assessing the neutronics of the system (how the motion of the spacecraft interacts with the plasma), designing the spacecraft, power system, and necessary subsystems, analyzing the magnetic nozzle capabilities, and determining trajectories and benefits of the pulsed plasma rocket, according to NASA.

The new propulsion system has the potential to revolutionize crewed spaceflight, helping humans make it to Mars without the toil of the trip itself.

A version of this article originally appeared on Gizmoodo .

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Plasma-Powered Rocket Designed for Deep Space Exploration

By John Greenwald, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory April 23, 2022

A solar electric propulsion Hall Effect thruster being tested under vacuum conditions at NASA. Credit: NASA

Plasma-based rocket designed for deep space exploration lasts longer and generates high power.

The increased interest in deep-space travel has necessitated the development of powerful, long-lasting rocket systems to propel spacecraft into the cosmos. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory ( PPPL ) have created a small modified version of a plasma -based propulsion system known as a Hall thruster that both enhances the lifespan of the rocket and produces high power.

The plasma-powered miniature device is less than an inch in diameter and removes the walls surrounding the plasma propellant to create innovative thruster configurations. Plasma is a state of matter composed of free-floating electrons and atomic nuclei, or ions. Among these innovations are the cylindrical Hall thruster, which was initially conceived and researched at PPPL, and a completely wall-less Hall thruster. Both configurations decrease channel erosion generated by plasma-wall interactions, which limits thruster lifespan – a major issue for typical annular or ring-shaped Hall thrusters and particularly for miniaturized low-power thrusters used on small satellites.

Widely studied

Cylindrical Hall thrusters were invented by PPPL physicists Yevgeny Raitses and Nat Fisch in 1999 and have been studied with students on the Laboratory’s Hall Thruster Experiment (HTX) since then. The PPPL devices have also been studied in countries including Korea, Japan, China, Singapore, and the European Union, with Korea and Singapore considering plans to fly them.

While wall-less Hall thrusters can minimize channel erosion, they face the problem of extensive widening, or divergence, of the plasma thrust plume, which degrades the system’s performance. To reduce this problem, PPPL has installed a key innovation on its new wall-less system in the form of a segmented electrode, a concentrically joined carrier of current. This innovation not only reduces the divergence and helps to intensify the rocket thrust, Raitses said, but also, suppresses the hiccups of small-size Hall thruster plasmas that interrupt the smooth delivery of power.

Graduate student Jacob Simmonds, center, with advisors Masaaki Yamada, left, and Yevgeny Raitses with figure of wall-less Hall thruster behind them. Credit: Yamada and Raitses photos by Elle Starkman/Office of Communications; Simmonds photo by Tyler Boothe. Collage by Kiran Sudarsanan.

The new findings cap a series of papers that Jacob Simmonds, a graduate student in the Princeton University Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, has published with Raitses, his doctoral co-adviser; PPPL physicist Masaaki Yamada serves as the other co-advisor. “In the last two years we have published three papers on new physics of plasma thrusters that led to the dynamic thruster described in this one,” said Raitses, who leads PPPL research on low-temperature plasma physics and the HTX. “It describes a novel effect that promises new developments in this field.”

Application of segmented electrodes to Hall thrusters is not new. Raitses and Fisch had previously used such electrodes to control the plasma flow in conventional annular Hall thrusters. But the effect that Simmonds measured and described in the recent paper in Applied Physics Letters is much stronger and has greater impact on the overall thruster operation and performance.

Focusing the plume

The new device helps overcome the problem for wall-less Hall thrusters that allows the plasma propellant to shoot from the rocket at wide angles, contributing little to the rocket’s thrust. “In short, wall-less Hall thrusters while promising have an unfocused plume because of the lack of channel walls,” Simmonds said. “So we needed to figure out a way to focus the plume to increase the thrust and efficiency and make it a better overall thruster for spacecraft.”

The segmented electrode diverts some electric current away from the thruster’s high-voltage standard electrode to shape the plasma and narrow and improve the focus of the plume. The electrode creates this effect by changing the directions of the forces within the plasma, particularly those on the ionized xenon plasma that the system accelerates to propel the rocket. Ionization turned the xenon gas the process used into free-standing electrons and atomic nuclei, or ions.

These developments increased the density of the thrust by shaping more of it in a reduced volume, a key goal for Hall thrusters. An added benefit of the segmented electrode has been the reduction of plasma instabilities called breathing mode oscillations, “where the amount of plasma increases and decreases periodically as the ionization rate changes with time” Simmonds said. Surprisingly, he added, the segmented electrode caused these oscillations to go away. “Segmented electrodes are very useful for Hall thrusters for these reasons,” he said.

The new high-thrust-density rocket can be especially beneficial for tiny cubic satellites, or CubeSats. Masaaki Yamada, Simmonds’ co-doctoral adviser who heads the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) that studies the process behind solar flares, Northern lights and other space phenomena, proposed the use of a wall-less segmented electrode system to power a CubeSat. Simmonds and his team of undergraduate students working under the guidance of Prof. Daniel Marlow, the Evans Crawford 1911 Professor of Physics at Princeton, took up that proposal to develop a CubeSat and such a rocket — a project that was halted near completion by the COVID-19 pandemic and that could be resumed in the future.

Reference: “Mitigation of breathing oscillations and focusing of the plume in a segmented electrode wall-less Hall thruster” by J. Simmonds and Y. Raitses, 22 November 2021, Applied Physics Letters . DOI: 10.1063/5.0070307

Support for this work comes from the DOE Office of Science.

PPPL, on Princeton University’s Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro, N.J., is devoted to creating new knowledge about the physics of plasmas — ultra-hot, charged gases — and to developing practical solutions for the creation of fusion energy.

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I had read that Ad Astra solved this problem by using a magnetic focusing technique. Is this a cooperative effort?

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NASA’s New Pulsed Plasma Rocket Will Deliver People to Mars Just In Two Months

NASA, in collaboration with Howe Industries , is developing a new propulsion system for a new pulsed plasma rocket. This could allow crewed missions to Mars to reach the Red Planet in only two months instead of the current nine.

How Does NASA’s Pulsed Plasma Rocket Work?

NASA’s pulsed plasma rocket will achieve high speeds in less time by utilizing nuclear fission, where atoms split apart to release energy. This energy is used to create bursts of plasma for propulsion.

To push the rocket forward in space, the new propulsion system will create a controlled stream of plasma. With this system, the rocket could potentially produce up to 22,481 pounds of force (100,000 Newtons) in thrust, while achieving a specific impulse (Isp) of 5,000 seconds. This would result in remarkably efficient fuel usage!

Is NASA’s Pulsed Plasma Rocket Totally New Concept?

The idea of a pulsed plasma rocket isn’t entirely new. In 2018, NASA initiated development of its version, called Pulsed Fission-Fusion (PuFF). For thrust generation, PuFF is used on a z-Pinch device, commonly used in laboratories to compress plasmas rapidly. 

NASA’s new pulsed plasma rocket is described as smaller, simpler, and more cost-effective compared to PuFF.

Pulsed Plasma Rocket As Part of NIAC Program

NASA’s pulsed plasma rocket development is a part of NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. Recently, the program has chosen six “promising” projects for further funding and development. These projects, or “science fiction-like concepts” due to John Nelson , NIAC program executive at NASA, also include a lunar railway system and fluid-based telescopes.

Shorter Space Trips Are Better For Astronauts

Currently, with commonly used propulsion systems, a journey to Mars takes about nine months. However, the less time humans spend in space travel, the better. Shorter durations of exposure to space radiation and microgravity could help reduce their potentially harmful effects on the astronauts’ bodies.

Other Benefits Of NASA’s Pulsed Plasma Rocket

Scientists promise that utilizing this rocket could revolutionize space travel by making the trip to Mars easier and less exhausting for humans. Additionally, NASA’s pulsed plasma rocket could carry heavier spacecraft, shielding the crew against cosmic rays.

An amateur rocket enthusiast with a keen interest in all space-related activity. Looking forward to the day when the UK starts launching rockets into space and I'm able to watch launches (from a safe distance of course).

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February 1, 2009

14 min read

The Efficient Future of Deep-Space Travel--Electric Rockets

Efficient electric plasma engines are propelling the next generation of space probes to the outer solar system

By Edgar Y. Choueiri

Alone amid the cosmic blackness, NASA's Dawn space probe speeds beyond the orbit of Mars toward the asteroid belt. Launched to search for insights into the birth of the solar system, the robotic spacecraft is on its way to study the asteroids Vesta and Ceres, two of the largest remnants of the planetary embryos that collided and combined some 4.57 billion years ago to form today's planets.

But the goals of the mission are not all that make this flight notable. Dawn, which took off in September 2007, is powered by a kind of space propulsion technology that is starting to take center stage for long-distance missions a plasma rocket engine. Such engines, now being developed in several advanced forms, generate thrust by electrically producing and manipulating ionized gas propellants rather than by burning liquid or solid chemical fuels, as conventional rockets do.

Dawn's mission designers at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory selected a plasma engine as the probe's rocket system because it is highly efficient, requiring only one tenth of the fuel that a chemical rocket motor would have needed to reach the asteroid belt. If project planners had chosen to install a traditional engine, the vehicle would have been able to reach either Vesta or Ceres, but not both.

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Indeed, electric rockets, as the engines are also known, are quickly becoming the best option for sending probes to far-off targets. Recent successes made possible by electric propulsion include a visit by NASA's Deep Space 1 vehicle to a comet, a bonus journey that was made feasible by propellant that was left over after the spacecraft had accomplished its primary goal. Plasma engines have also provided propulsion for an attempted landing on an asteroid by the Japanese Hayabusa probe, as well as a trip to the moon by the European Space Agency's SMART-1 spacecraft. In light of the technology's demonstrated advantages, deep-space mission planners in the U.S., Europe and Japan are opting to employ plasma drives for future missions that will explore the outer planets, search for extrasolar, Earth-like planets and use the void of space as a laboratory in which to study fundamental physics.

Although plasma thrusters are only now making their way into long-range spacecraft, the technology has been under development for that purpose for some time and is already used for other tasks in space.

As early as the first decade of the 20th century, rocket pioneers speculated about using electricity to power spacecraft. But the late Ernst Stuhl inger a member of Wernher von Braun's legendary team of German rocket scientists that spearheaded the U.S. space program finally turned the concept into a practical technology in the mid-1950s. A few years later engineers at the NASA Glenn Research Center (then known as Lewis) built the first operating electric rocket. That engine made a suborbital flight in 1964 onboard Space Electric Rocket Test 1, operating for half an hour before the craft fell back to Earth.

In the meantime, researchers in the former Soviet Union worked independently on concepts for electric rockets. Since the 1970s mission planners have selected the technology because it can save propellant while performing such tasks as maintaining the attitude and orbital position of telecommunications satellites in geosynchronous orbit.

The benefits afforded by plasma engines become most striking in light of the drawbacks of conventional rockets. When people imagine a ship streaking through the dark void toward a distant planet, they usually envision it trailing a long, fiery plume from its nozzles. Yet the truth is altogether different: expeditions to the outer solar system have been mostly rocketless affairs, because most of the fuel is typically expended in the first few minutes of operation, leaving the spacecraft to coast the rest of the way to its goal. True, chemical rockets do launch all spacecraft from Earth's surface and can make midcourse corrections. But they are impractical for powering deep-space explorations because they would require huge quantities of fuel too much to be lifted into orbit practically and affordably. Placing a pound (0.45 kilogram) of anything into Earth orbit costs as much as $10,000.

To achieve the necessary trajectories and high speeds for lengthy, high-precision journeys without additional fuel, many deep-space probes of the past have had to spend time often years detouring out of their way to planets or moons that provided gravitational kicks able to accel erate them in the desired direction (slingshot moves called gravity-assist maneuvers). Such circuitous flight paths limit missions to relatively small launch windows; only blasting off within a certain short time frame will ensure a precision swing past a cosmic body serving as a gravitational booster.

Even worse, after years of travel toward its destination, a vehicle with a chemical rocket motor would typically have no fuel left for braking. Such a probe would need the ability to fire its rocket so that it could slow enough to achieve orbit around its target and thus conduct extended scientific observations. Unable to brake, it would be limited to just a fleeting encounter with the object it aimed to study. Indeed, after a trip of more than nine years, New Horizons, a NASA deep-space probe launched in 2006, will get only a brief encounter of not more than a single Earth day with its ultimate object of study, the recently demoted "dwarf planet" Pluto.

For those who wonder why engineers have been unable to come up with ways to send enough chemical fuel into space to avoid such difficulties for long missions, let me clarify the immense hurdles they face. The explanation derives from what is called the rocket equation, a formula used by mission planners to calculate the mass of propellant required for a given mission. Russian scientist Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky, one of the fathers of rocketry and spaceflight, first introduced this basic formula in 1903.

In plain English, the rocket equation states the intuitive fact that the faster you throw propellant out from a spacecraft, the less you need to execute a rocket-borne maneuver. Think of a baseball pitcher (a rocket motor) with a bucket of baseballs (propellant) standing on a skateboard (a spacecraft). The faster the pitcher flings the balls rearward (that is, the higher the exhaust speed), the faster the vehicle will be traveling in the opposite direction when the last ball is thrown or, equivalently, the fewer baseballs (less propellant) the pitcher would have to hurl to raise the skateboard's speed by a desired amount at any given time. Scientists call this incremental increase of the skateboard's velocity "delta-v."

In more specific terms, the equation relates the mass of propellant required by a rocket to carry out a particular mission in outer space to two key velocities: the velocity at which the rocket's exhaust will be ejected from the vehicle and the mission's delta-v how much the vehicle's velocity will increase as a result of the exhaust's ejection. Delta-v corresponds to the energy a craft must expend to alter its inertial motion and execute a desired space maneuver. For a given rocket technology (that is, one that produces a given rocket exhaust speed), the rocket equation translates the delta-v for a desired mission into the mass of propellant required to complete it. The delta-v metric can therefore be thought of as a kind of "price tag" of a mission, because the cost of conducting one is typically dominated by the cost of launching the needed propellant.

Conventional chemical rockets achieve only low exhaust velocities (three to four kilometers per second, or km/s). This feature alone makes them problematic to use. Also, the exponential nature of the rocket equation dictates that the fraction of the vehicle's initial mass that is composed of fuel the "propellant mass fraction" grows exponentially with delta-v. Hence, the fuel needed for the high delta-v required for a deep-space mission could take up almost all the starting mass of the spacecraft, leaving little room for anything else.

Consider a couple of examples: To travel to Mars from low-Earth orbit requires a delta-v of about 4.5 km/s. The rocket equation says that a conventional chemical rocket would require that more than two thirds of the spacecraft's mass be propellant to carry out such an interplanetary transfer. For more ambitious trips such as expeditions to the outer planets, which have delta-v requirements that range from 35 to 70 km/s chemical rockets would need to be more than 99.98 percent fuel. That configuration would leave no space for other hardware or useful payloads. As probes journey farther out into the solar system, chemical rockets become increasingly useless unless engineers can find a way to significantly raise their exhaust speeds.

So far that goal has proved very difficult to accomplish because generating ultrahigh exhaust speeds demands extremely high fuel combustion temperatures. The ability to reach the needed temperatures is limited both by the amount of energy that can be released by known chemical reactions and by the melting point of the rocket's walls.

Plasma propulsion systems, in contrast, offer much greater exhaust speeds. Instead of burning chemical fuel to generate thrust, the plasma engine accelerates plasmas clouds of electrically charged atoms or molecules to very high velocities. A plasma is produced by adding energy to a gas, for instance, by radiating it with lasers, microwaves or radio-frequency waves or by subjecting it to strong electric fields. The extra energy liberates electrons from the atoms or molecules of the gas, leaving the latter with a positive charge and the former free to move freely in the gas, which makes the ionized gas a far better electrical conductor than copper metal. Because plasmas contain charged particles, whose motion is strongly affected by electric and magnetic fields, application of electric or electromagnetic fields to a plasma can accelerate its constituents and send them out the back of a vehicle as thrust-producing exhaust. The necessary fields can be generated by electrodes and magnets, using induction by external antennas or wire coils, or by driving electric currents through the plasma.

The electric power for creating and accelerating the plasmas typically comes from solar panels that collect energy from the sun. But deep-space vehicles going past Mars must rely on nuclear power sources, because solar energy gets too weak at long distances from the sun. Today's small robotic probes use thermoelectric devices heated by the decay of a nuclear isotope, but the more ambitious missions of the future would need nuclear fission (or even fusion) reactors. Any nuclear reactor would be activated only after the vessel reached a stable orbit at a safe distance from Earth. Its fuel would be secured in an inert state during liftoff.

Three kinds of plasma propulsion systems have matured enough to be employed on long-distance missions. The one in most use and the kind powering Dawn is the ion drive.

The ion engine, one of the more successful electric propulsion concepts, traces its roots to the ideas of American rocketry pioneer Robert H. Goddard, formed when he was still a graduate student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute a century ago. Ion engines are able to achieve exhaust velocities ranging from 20 to 50 km/s [see box on next page].

In its most common incarnation, the ion engine gets its electric power from photovoltaic panels. It is a squat cylinder, not much larger than a bucket, that is set astern. Inside the bucket, xenon gas from the propellant tank flows into an ionization chamber where an electromagnetic field tears electrons off the xenon gas atoms to create a plasma. The plasma's positive ions are then extracted and accelerated to high speeds through the action of an electric field that is applied between two electrode grids. Each positive ion in the field feels the strong tug of the aft-mounted, negatively charged electrode and therefore accelerates rearward.

The positive ions in the exhaust leave a spacecraft with a net negative charge, which, if left to build up, would attract the ions back to the spacecraft, thus canceling out the thrust. To avoid this problem, an external electron source (a negative cathode or an electron gun) injects electrons into the positive flow to electrically neutralize it, which leaves the spacecraft neutral.

Dozens of ion drives are currently operating on commercial spacecraft mostly communications satellites in geosynchronous orbit for orbital "station-keeping" and attitude control. They were selected because they save millions of dollars per spacecraft by greatly shrinking the mass of propellant that would be required for chemical propulsion.

At the end of the 20th century, Deep Space 1 became the world's first spacecraft using an electric propulsion system to escape Earth's gravitation from orbit. The probe then accelerated by about 4.3 km/s, while consuming less than 74 kilograms of xenon propellant (about the mass of an untapped beer keg), to fly through the dusty tail of the comet Borrelly. This is the highest velocity increment gained via propulsion (as opposed to gravity assists) by any spacecraft to date. Dawn should soon break that record by adding 10 km/s to its velocity. Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have recently demonstrated ion drives able to function flawlessly for more than three years of continuous operation.

A plasma rocket's performance is determined not only by the speed of the exhaust particles but also by its thrust density, which is the amount of thrust force an engine produces per unit area of its exhaust aperture. Ion engines and similar electrostatic thrusters suffer from a major shortcoming, called space-charge limitation, that severely reduces their thrust density: as the positive ions pass between the electrostatic grids in an ion engine, a positive charge inevitably builds up in this region. This buildup limits the attainable electric field to drive the acceleration.

Because of this phenomenon, Deep Space 1's ion engine produces a thrust force that is roughly equivalent to the weight of a single sheet of paper hardly the thundering rocket engine of sci-fi movies and more akin to a car that takes two days to accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour. As long as one is willing to wait long enough (typically, many months), though, these engines can eventually attain the high delta-vs needed for distant journeys. That feat is possible because in the vacuum of space, which offers no resistance, even a tiny push, if constantly applied, will lead to high propulsion speeds.

A plasma propulsion system called the Hall thruster [see box at right] avoids the space-charge limitation and can therefore accelerate a vessel to high speeds more quickly (by way of its greater thrust density) than a comparably sized ion engine can. This technology has been gaining acceptance in the West since the early 1990s, after three decades of steady development in the former Soviet Union. The Hall thruster will soon be ready to take on long-range missions.

The system relies on a fundamental effect discovered in 1879 by Edwin H. Hall, then a physics graduate student at Johns Hopkins University. Hall showed that when electric and magnetic fields are set perpendicular to each other inside a conductor, an electric current (called the Hall current) flows in a direction that is perpendicular to both fields.

In a Hall thruster a plasma is produced when an electric discharge between an internal positive anode and a negative cathode situated outside the device tears through a neutral gas inside the device. The resulting plasma fluid is then accelerated out of the cylindrical engine by the Lorentz force, which results from the interaction of an applied radial magnetic field and an electric current (in this case, the Hall current) that flows in an azimuthal direction that is, in a circular "orbit" around the central anode. The Hall current is caused by the electron's motion in the magnetic and electric fields. Depending on the available power, exhaust velocities can range from 10 to more than 50 km/s.

This form of electric rocket avoids a space-charge buildup by accelerating the entire plasma (of both positive ions and negative electrons), with the result that its thrust density and thus its thrust force (and so its potential delta-v) is many times that of an ion engine of the same size. More than 200 Hall thrusters have been flown on satellites in Earth orbit. And it was a Hall thruster that the European Space Agency used to efficiently propel its SMART-1 spacecraft frugally to the moon.

Engineers are now trying to scale up today's rather small Hall thrusters so that they can handle higher amounts of power to generate greater exhaust speeds and thrust levels. The work also aims to extend their operating lifetimes to the multiyear durations needed for deep-space exploration.

Scientists at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory have taken a step toward these goals by implanting segmented electrodes in the walls of a Hall thruster. The electrodes shape the internal electric field in a way that helps to focus the plasma into a thin exhaust beam. This design reduces the useless nonaxial component of thrust and improves the system's operating lifetime by keeping the plasma beam away from the thruster walls. German engineers have achieved similar results using specially shaped magnetic fields. Researchers at Stanford University have meanwhile shown that lining the walls with tough, synthetic-polycrystalline diamond substantially boosts the device's resistance to plasma erosion. Such improvements will eventually make Hall thrusters suitable for deep-space missions.

One way to further raise the thrust density of plasma propulsion is to increase the total amount of plasma that is accelerated in the engine. But as the plasma density in a Hall thruster is raised, electrons collide more frequently with atoms and ions, which makes it more difficult for the electrons to carry the Hall current needed for acceleration. An alternative known as the magnetoplasmadynamic thruster (MPDT) allows for a denser plasma by forgoing the Hall current in favor of a current component that is mostly aligned with the electric field [see box at left] and far less prone than the Hall current to disruption by atomic collisions.

In general, an MPDT consists of a central cathode sitting within a larger cylindrical anode. A gas, typically lithium, is pumped into the annular space between the cathode and the anode. There it is ionized by an electric current flowing radially from the cathode to the anode. This current induces an azimuthal magnetic field (one that encircles the central cathode), which interacts with the same current that induced it to generate the thrust-producing Lorentz force.

A single MPD engine about the size of an average household pail can process about a million watts of electric power from a solar or nuclear source into thrust (enough to energize more than 10,000 standard lightbulbs), which is substantially larger than the maximum power limits of ion or Hall thrusters of the same size. An MPDT can produce exhaust velocities from 15 to 60 km/s. It truly is the little engine that could.

This design also offers the advantage of throttling; its exhaust speed and thrust can be easily adjusted by varying the electric current level or the flow rate of the propellant. Throttling allows a mission planner to alter a spacecraft's engine thrust and exhaust velocity as needed to optimize its trajectory.

Intensive research on mechanisms that hamper the performance and lifetimes of MPD devices, such as electrode erosion, plasma instabilities and power dissipation in the plasma, has led to new, high-performance engines that rely on lithium and barium vapors for propellants. These elements ionize easily, yield lower internal energy losses in the plasma and help to keep the cathode cooler. The adoption of these liquid-metal propellants and an unusual cathode design that contains channels that alter how the electric current interacts with its surface has resulted in substantially less erosion of the cathode. These innovations are leading to more reliable MPDTs.

A team of academic and NASA researchers has recently completed the design of a state-of-the-art lithium-fed MPDT called 2, which could potentially drive a nuclear-powered vessel hauling heavy cargo and people to the moon and Mars as well as robotic missions to the outer planets.

Ion, Hall and MPD thrusters are but three variants of electric plasma rocket technology, albeit the most mature. During the past few decades researchers have developed many other promising related concepts to various degrees of readiness. Some are pulsed engines that operate intermittently; others run continuously. Some generate plasmas through electrode-based electric discharge; others use coil-based magnetic induction or antenna-generated radiation. The mechanisms they apply to accelerate plasmas vary as well: some use Lorentz forces; others accelerate the plasmas by entraining them in magnetically produced current sheets or in traveling electromagnetic waves. One type even aims to exhaust the plasma through invisible "rocket nozzles" composed of magnetic fields.

In all cases, plasma rockets will get up to speed more slowly than conventional rockets. And yet, in what has been called the "slower but faster paradox," they can often make their way to distant destinations more quickly by ultimately reaching higher spacecraft velocities than standard propulsion systems can using the same mass of propellant. They thus avoid time-consuming detours for gravity boosts. Much as the fabled slow and steady tortoise beats out the intermittently sprinting hare, in the marathon flights that will become increasingly common in the coming era of deep-space exploration, the tortoise wins.

So far the most advanced designs could impart a delta-v of 100 km/s much too slow to take a spacecraft to the far-off stars but plenty enough to visit the outer planets in a reasonable amount of time. One particularly exciting deep-space mission that has been proposed would return samples from Saturn's largest moon, Titan, which space scientists believe has an atmosphere that is very similar to Earth's eons ago.

A sample from Titan's surface would offer researchers a rare chance to search for signs of chemical precursors to life. The mission would be impossible with chemical propulsion. And, with no in-course propulsion, the journey would require multiple planetary gravity assists, adding more than three years to the total trip time. A probe fitted with "the little plasma engine that could" would be able to do the job in a sig nificantly shorter period.

Note: This article was originally printed with the title, "New Dawn for Electric Rockets".

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NASA’s Proposed Plasma Rocket Would Get Us to Mars in 2 Months

NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program recently selected six promising projects for additional funding and development, allowing them to graduate to the second stage of development. The new “science fiction-like concepts,” as described by John Nelson, NIAC program executive at NASA, include a lunar railway system and fluid-based telescopes, as well as a pulsed plasma rocket.

The potentially groundbreaking propulsion system is being developed by Arizona-based Howe Industries. To reach high velocities within a shorter period of time, the pulsed plasma rocket would use nuclear fission—the release of energy from atoms splitting apart—to generate packets of plasma for thrust.

It would essentially produce a controlled jet of plasma to help propel the rocket through space. Using the new propulsion system, and in terms of thrust, the rocket could potentially generate up to 22,481 pounds of force (100,000 Newtons) with a specific impulse (Isp) of 5,000 seconds, for remarkably high fuel efficiency.

It’s not an entirely new concept. NASA began developing its own version back in 2018 under the name Pulsed Fission-Fusion (PuFF). PuFF relied on a device commonly used to compress laboratory plasmas to high pressures for very short timescales, called z-Pinch, to produce thrust. The pulsed plasma rocket, however, is smaller, simpler, and more affordable, according to NASA .

The space agency claims that the propulsion system’s high efficiency could allow for crewed missions to Mars to be completed within two months. As it stands today with commonly used propulsion systems, a trip to Mars takes around nine months. The less time humans can spend traveling through space, the better. Shorter periods of exposure to space radiation and microgravity could help mitigate its effects on the human body.

The pulsed plasma rocket would also be capable of carrying much heavier spacecraft, which can be then equipped with shielding against galactic cosmic rays for the crew on board.

Phase 2 of NIAC is focused on assessing the neutronics of the system (how the motion of the spacecraft interacts with the plasma), designing the spacecraft, power system, and necessary subsystems, analyzing the magnetic nozzle capabilities, and determining trajectories and benefits of the pulsed plasma rocket, according to NASA.

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How Plasma Rockets Work

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Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Blast off! Into the sky shoots a rocket ship , quickly moving beyond our atmosphere and into outer space. In the last half-century, people have gone from just looking up in amazement at the stars glimmering in the night sky to actually living for months at a time on the International Space Station among the celestial bodies. And while humans have set foot on the moon, landing anywhere farther away has been reserved only for unmanned craft and robots.

One place people are very interested in visiting is Mars. Aside from the actual challenges of landing and spending any time in a place as unwelcoming as the red planet, there's the big hurdle of actually getting there. On average, Mars is about 140 million miles (225.3 million kilometers) from Earth. Even when at its closest point, it's still some 35 million miles (56.3 million kilometers) away from our planet [source: St. Fleur ]. Using the conventional chemical rockets that typically carry us into outer space would take at least seven months to get there — not exactly a short amount of time [source: Verhovek ]. Is there any way we might be able to do it faster? Enter the plasma rocket!

In lieu of using conventional rocket fuel , scientists and engineers have turned to the promise of plasma rockets to propel us to the further reaches of outer space. In this type of rocket, a combination of electric and magnetic fields are used to break down the atoms and molecules of a propellant gas into a collection of particles that have either a positive charge (ions) or a negative charge (electrons). In other words, the propellant gas becomes a plasma.

In many configurations of this engine, an electric field is then applied to eject the ions out the back of the engine, which provide thrust to the spacecraft in the opposite direction [source: Zyga ]. With this technology optimized, a spaceship could theoretically reach a speed 123,000 mph (198,000 kph) [source: Verhovek ]. At that speed, you could get from New York to Los Angeles in one minute!

Plasma: The Fourth State of Matter

Types of plasma rockets, next stop ... mars.

The world is usually broken down into three states of matter: solid, liquid and gas. When matter is cold, it is solid. As it heats up, it turns into a liquid. When more heat is applied, you get a gas. The story doesn't end there, however. As you add even more heat, you get — plasma! The extra energy and heat break apart the neutral atoms and molecules in the gas into typically positively charged ions and negatively charged electrons. The charged particles give plasma interesting conductive properties, so plasma technology is used to make all sorts of items we use every day. Computer chips, neon signs, even the metallic coating on the inside of a bag of potato chips are created using plasma technology. And of course, there is the plasma television which uses plasma to release light photons, giving you a color display of pixels on your screen. In fact, 99 percent of ordinary matter in the universe is in the plasma state [source: Charles ].

Most stars, including our sun, are made of plasma. If it's so prevalent in the universe, why don't we see it much on Earth? Well, actually, we do. The northern and southern lights are created by solar winds. And what are solar winds? Plasma! OK, not everyone is lucky enough to see these spectacular light displays, but you can see plasma in action during another awesome light shows provide by nature: a thunderstorm. As the electricity in lightning flows through the air, it provides so much energy to the molecules in its path that the gases in the lightning trail are actually transformed into plasma.

Plasma technology has also been used in rockets to help us get around outer space, and it holds the most promise for getting humans to places we could only dream of before. These rockets need to be in the vacuum of outer space to work since the density of air near the earth's surface slows down the acceleration of the ions in the plasma needed to create thrust, so we can't actually use them for lift-off from earth. However, some of these plasma engines have been operating in space since 1971. NASA typically uses them for upkeep on the International Space Station and satellites, as well as the main source for propulsion into deep space [source: NASA ].

All plasma rockets operate on the same type of principle: Electric fields and magnetic fields work side by side to first transform a gas – typically xenon or krypton – into plasma and then accelerate the ions in the plasma out of the engine at over 45,000 mph (72,400 kph), creating a thrust in the direction of desired travel [source: Science Alert ]. There are many ways that this formula can be applied to create a working plasma rocket, but there are three types that stand out as the best and most promising [source: Walker].

Hall thrusters are one of two types of plasma engines that are currently in use regularly in space. In this device, electric and magnetic fields are set up in a perpendicular fashion in the chamber. When electricity is sent through these dueling fields, the electrons begin to whiz around super-fast in circles. As the propellant gas gets squirted into the device, the high-speed electrons knock electrons off the atoms in the gas, creating a plasma consisting of the free electrons (carrying negative charges) and the now positively charged atoms (ions) of the propellant. These ions get shot out of the back of the engine and create the thrust needed to propel the rocket forward. While the two processes of ionization and acceleration of the ions happen in steps, they occur within the same space in this engine. Hall thrusters can generate a significant amount of thrust for the input power used, so they can go incredibly fast. But there are limits on their fuel efficiency.

When NASA is looking for an engine that's more fuel-efficient, it turns instead to gridded ion engines . In this commonly used device, electric and magnetic fields are situated along the walls of the engine chamber. When electrical power is applied, high-energy electrons oscillate in and along the magnetic fields near the walls. In a similar fashion to the Hall thruster, the electrons are able to ionize the propellant gas into a plasma. In order to do the next step of creating thrust, electric grids are placed at the end of the chamber in order to accelerate the ions out. In this engine, the ionization and acceleration happen in two different spaces. While the gridded ion engine is more fuel-efficient than a Hall thruster, the downside is that it cannot generate as much thrust per unit area. Depending on the type of job they're looking to get done, scientists and aerospace engineers choose which engine suits the mission better.

Finally, there is the third type of engine: VASIMR, short for Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket . This rocket, developed by former astronaut Franklin Chang Diaz, exists only in the test phase now. In this device, the ions are created via radio waves generated by an antenna to form the plasma. Another antenna further downstream adds energy that causes the ions to spin around in a circle very fast. A magnetic field provides directionality so that the ions are released out of the engine in a straight line, thereby delivering the thrust. If it works, this rocket will have enormous throttle range, something that the Hall thruster and ion gridded engine cannot achieve as easily.

Conventional rockets are great and have gotten us far, but they have their limitations. These rockets also work on the basis of thrust: The engine burns fuel, creating a high pressure gas that gets forced out of the rocket nozzle at high speed and the rocket gets propelled in the opposite direction [source: Brain ]. Rocket fuel, however is very heavy and super-inefficient. It cannot provide enough power to get places fast. The rocket fuel is burned up in the effort to get off the earth and into orbit, and then the spaceship basically is forced to just coast [source: Verhovek ].

A plasma rocket, on the other hand, uses a lot less fuel than these conventional engines – 100 million times less fuel, in fact [source: Science Alert ]. It's so fuel-efficient that you can go from Earth's orbit to the moon's orbit with just about 30 gallons (113 liters) of gas [source: Charles ]. Plasma rockets accelerate gradually and can reach a maximum speed of 34 miles (55 kilometers) per second over 23 days, which is four times faster than any chemical rocket [source: Verhovek ]. Less time spent traveling means less risk of the ship experiencing mechanical failures and astronauts being exposed to solar radiation, bone loss and muscle atrophy. With VASIMR, propulsion will also theoretically be available throughout the entirety of the trip, meaning that changes in direction could be possible at any time.

To be realistic, at this point, travel to Mars in a short time is still a long way off. Reaching these types of extreme distances will require a lot of power. Most Hall thrusters and gridded ion engines run on about 5 kilowatts of power. To get to the levels of power you'd need to reach Mars in about 40 days, you'd need at least 200 times that amount [source: Walker]. The most viable source of energy to generate this amount of power while in outer space is nuclear power sources built into the engine. At this time, however, putting a nuclear power source on a rocket ship that we blast from earth into space poses too much threat of radiation exposure in the case of a crash.

So the power source to reach those distances remains a major challenge. Not to mention the uncertainty of how the human body would react to travelling 34 miles (54 kilometers) per second (as opposed to the 4.7 miles or 7.5 kilometers per second astronauts travel to get to lower earth orbit in conventional rockets) [sources: Verhovek , Northwestern University Qualitative Reasoning Group ]. But in theory, given enough power, these engines have the capabilities of reaching Mars in about 40 days, a feat we wouldn't have dared dream possible just 50 years ago.

Plasma Rocket FAQ

What is a plasma rocket, how fast can a plasma rocket go, what is the fastest engine for space travel, what are the different types of plasma engines, how fast can the vasimr engine go, lots more information, author's note: how plasma rockets work.

First I read "The Martian," and now I've written this article. I've never been so jazzed about Mars! I'm not sure I'd want to go there myself, but more power to the astronauts who may one day walk upon the red planet!

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More Great Links

• NASA Image of the Day
• Visions of the Future: Space Exploration Posters from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Allain, Rhett. "What's So Special About Low Earth Orbit?" Wired. Sept. 15, 2015. (Aug. 25, 2016) http://www.wired.com/2015/09/whats-special-low-earth-orbit/
• Brain, Marshall. "How Rocket Engines Work." HowStuffWorks.com. April 1, 2000. (Aug. 25, 2016) https://science.howstuffworks.com/rocket.htm
• Charles, Christine. "The fourth state of matter – plasma." TEDx-Canberra. Nov. 3, 2014. (Aug 24, 2016) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-17xqfF4FU
• Harris, Tom. "How Plasma Displays Work." HowStuffWorks.com March 19, 2002. (Sept. 9, 2016) https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/plasma-display.htm
• Nadis, Steve. "The Revolutionary Rocket That Could Shuttle Humans to Mars." Discover Magazine. April 18, 2014. (Aug. 24, 2016) http://discovermagazine.com/2014/may/12-rocketman
• NASA. "Overview of Hall Thrusters." (Aug. 30, 2016) http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/hall/overview/overview.htm
• NASA. "Three Classes of Orbit." (Aug. 25, 2016) http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/OrbitsCatalog/page2.php
• Northwestern University Qualitative Reasoning Group. "How fast can conventional rockets go?" (Sept. 9, 2016) http://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/projects/vss/docs/propulsion/2-how-fast-conventional.html
• Science Alert. "This plasma engine could get humans to Mars on 100 million times less fuel." Oct. 28, 2015. (Aug. 25, 2016) http://www.sciencealert.com/this-plasma-engine-could-get-humans-to-mars-on-100-million-times-less-fuel
• St. Fleur, Nicholas. "A Close Encounter for Earth and Mars." New York Times. May 30, 2016. (Sept. 9, 2016) http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/31/science/mars-earth-closest-approach.html?_r=0
• Verhovek, Sam Howe. "The 123,000 MPH Plasma Engine That Could Finally Take Astronauts to Mars." Popular Science. Oct. 13, 2010. (Aug. 24, 2016) http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-10/123000-mph-plasma-engine-could-finally-take-astronauts-mars
• Walker, Mitchell. Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology. Personal Interview. Aug. 25, 2016.
• Zyga, Lisa. "Plasma Rocket Could Travel to Mars in 39 Days." Phys.org. Oct. 6, 2009. (Aug. 24, 2016) http://phys.org/news/2009-10-plasma-rocket-mars-days.html

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100,000 N thrust-powered nuclear rocket could offer fastest Mars trips

Us-based howe industries has been working on the development of a technology called pulsed plasma rocket. .

Mrigakshi Dixit

Representational image of nuclear propulsion rocket over Mars.

Mars, the Red Planet, has long captured our imagination to find alien life and establish a human base. However, the road to Mars has myriad challenges. 

NASA has been actively working to develop and advance technologies to send astronauts and payloads to Mars efficiently and rapidly. 

The first step in reaching Mars is to create a propulsion system capable of quickly transporting massive cargoes to and from the distant planet. 

US-based Howe Industries has been developing a technology called pulsed plasma rocket (PPR).

Notably, this propulsion system would produce up to 100,000 N of thrust with a specific impulse (Isp) of 5,000 seconds — meeting the two primary requirements for deep space missions. This makes it a promising candidate for future deep space missions.

The concept of pulsed plasma rocket

Current spacecraft require a high velocity to go long distances in space. This can be achieved by designing propulsion systems with high thrust and high specific impulse. However, such technologies do not now exist.

The PPR concept aims to meet these dual needs. 

As per an earlier research paper , the PPR is an evolution of the Pulsed Fission Fusion concept. It is an advanced propulsion concept that harnesses the power of nuclear energy to generate thrust for spacecraft propulsion.

At its core, the PPR employs a fission-based nuclear power system, which obtains energy from the controlled splitting of atomic nuclei.

Moreover, PPR is smaller, simpler, and less expensive than the pulsed fission-fusion concept. 

“The exceptional performance of the PPR, combining high Isp and high thrust, holds the potential to revolutionize space exploration. The system’s high efficiency allows for manned missions to Mars to be completed within a mere two months,” mentioned the NASA press release. 

Alternatively, a one-way trip would take at least nine months from Earth to Mars.

This rocket may even go beyond Mars

The capabilities offered by the PPR rocket opens up new possibilities in space exploration. 

This tech would be able to propel much heavier spacecraft compared to conventional propulsion systems.

According to a NASA release , it will be designed with a high-tech protective shield against Galactic Cosmic Rays, which are high-energy particles that pose health dangers to humans during long-duration space travel.

Interestingly, the PPR’s advanced propulsion capabilities make it suitable for missions beyond Mars. For example, missions to the Asteroid Belt may become feasible with the PPR. This technology would also give access to the Asteroid Belt for mining and other possible resources. 

The NASA Innovative Advanced Concept (NIAC) Phase I study of this PPR tech focused on “assessing the neutronics of the system, designing the spacecraft, power system, and necessary subsystems, analyzing the magnetic nozzle capabilities, and determining trajectories and benefits of the PPR.”

Phase II may bring NASA closer to realizing its Martian dreams with enhanced engine designs, real-world trials, and a ship design for protected human flights to Mars.

Mars presently only has robotic explorers, who have become permanent inhabitants without needing to return to Earth. 

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But for humans , it can be tricky as they can’t extend their stay on Mars’s harsh environment. When Earth and Mars are closest to each other in their orbital alignment, executing a relatively fast return trip is possible.

However, for this perfect alignment, astronauts may have to wait for a longer period, maybe even a year.  

Developing a propulsion system, like PPR, may solve this problem and relatively reduce travel time between the two worlds.  

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ABOUT THE EDITOR

Mrigakshi Dixit Mrigakshi is a science journalist who enjoys writing about space exploration, biology, and technological innovations. Her professional experience encompasses both broadcast and digital media, enabling her to learn a variety of storytelling formats. Her work has been featured in well-known publications including Nature India, Supercluster, and Astronomy magazine. If you have pitches in mind, please do not hesitate to email her.

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Pulsed plasma rocket: shielded, fast transits for humans to mars.

Howe, Steven Howe Industries LLC

Development of a space faring civilization will depend on the ability to move cargo efficiently and humans rapidly. Due to the large distances involved in space travel, the ships must reach a high velocity for reasonable mission transit times. Thus, propulsion systems with high specific impulse (Isp) AND high thrust are required. Possessing both attributes has eluded the current state of technology. Howe Industries is investigating a system that may produce 20,000 lbsf of thrust with an Isp of 5,000 s. The system is derived from the Pulsed Fission Fusion [1] concept but the Pulsed Plasma Rocket (PPR) is smaller, less complex, and more affordable. The performance of a propulsion system with high Isp and high thrust allows missions throughout the solar system and beyond which are not possible with current technology. Human missions to Mars in two months are possible. Alternatively, heavier ships containing shielding against Galactic Cosmic Rays are enabled so that the dose to the crew is reduced to negligible levels. This may be preferable for Mars missions or may enable human missions to the Asteroid Belt in acceptable timeframes. Additionally, a mission to the 550 AU location where the Sun’s gravitational lens focuses can be considered. For this study, we intend to focus on the large, heavily shielded ship to transport humans and cargo to Mars for the development of a Martian base.

2020 Phase I, II, and III Selections

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Space Technology Mission Directorate. Technology drives exploration and the space economy.

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NASA-backed pulsed plasma rocket system set to revolutionize Mars missions

An innovative rocket system, the Pulsed Plasma Rocket (PPR), is poised to transform future deep space missions to Mars by significantly reducing travel time. Currently being developed by Howe Industries, the PPR promises greater efficiency than existing deep space propulsion methods. According to NASA , this new propulsion system could expedite astronaut and cargo travel between Earth and Mars. The PPR's high specific impulse or Isp — a measure of engine thrust efficiency — is key in reducing travel time.

PPR's fission-based propulsion: A game changer?

The PPR, derived from the Pulsed Fission Fusion concept, employs a fission-dependent nuclear power system to create thrust for spacecraft propulsion. This innovative system harnesses energy from the controlled splitting of atoms, making it smaller, simpler, and more cost-effective than previous concepts. The technology could support heavier spacecraft and enable further range missions. NASA officials have stated that "the PPR enables a whole new era in space exploration."

Potential to enhance spacecraft safety and efficiency

The PPR's ability to support heavier spacecraft could allow for additional shielding, reducing crew exposure to high-energy harmful particles, known as Galactic Cosmic Rays, during long-duration spaceflight. NASA officials have highlighted the system's exceptional performance and its potential to revolutionize space exploration. According to NASA, "the system's high efficiency allows for manned missions to Mars to be completed within a mere two months."

PPR moves into Phase II of study

The PPR concept has successfully completed Phase I and now advances to Phase II of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concept (NIAC) study. The first phase focused on designing the spacecraft and necessary subsystems, analyzing magnetic nozzle prowess, and determining trajectories and benefits. Phase II will concentrate on optimizing the engine design, conducting proof-of-concept experiments, and designing a spacecraft concept that better protects crewed flights to Mars. This progress will bring NASA closer to establishing a permanent base on Mars.

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Is sending astronauts to Mars possible? This NASA-funded rocket aims to do it in 2 months

This technology could potentially allow astronauts and cargo to travel to and from mars more efficiently and rapidly than current spacecraft, nasa said.

No astronaut has yet been to Mars, however, a new NASA-funded innovative rocket system is all set to make this travel possible in a span of 2 months.

The challenge of landing humans on Mars includes the need to quickly transport large payloads to and from the planet, which would take almost two years for a round trip using current propulsion technology.

The Pulsed Plasma Rocket (PPR) aims to revolutionise future deep space missions to Mars. It will likely reduce the travel time to the Red Planet to just a few months.

Also read: NASA shares spectacular images of majestic ‘Pillars of Creation’ from Eagle Nebula | See pics

The PPR, under development by Howe Industries, is a propulsion system designed to be far more efficient than current methods of deep space propulsion. It would enable the trip between Earth and Mars to be made in just two months.

Specifically, the rocket will generate up to 100,000 N of thrust with a specific impulse (Isp) of 5,000 seconds.

According to a NASA statement, this technology could potentially allow astronauts and cargo to travel to and from Mars more efficiently and rapidly than current spacecraft. 

Also read: First crewed flight of Boeing Starliner postponed again, says NASA. Here's why

“The system’s high efficiency allows for manned missions to Mars to be completed within a mere two months," the statement read.

PPR, NASA said, enables the transport of much heavier spacecraft that are equipped with shielding against Galactic Cosmic Rays, thereby reducing crew exposure to negligible levels. "The PPR enables a whole new era in space exploration.'

This innovative rocket project is now moving to Phase II of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concept (NIAC) study. 

Also read: NASA shares stunning image: Hubble Telescope captures triple-star system 550 light-years away

In NIAC Phase I, the developers focused on a large, heavily shielded ship to transport humans and cargo to Mars for the development of a Martian base. The main topics included: assessing the neutronics of the system, designing the spacecraft, power system, and necessary subsystems, analyzing the magnetic nozzle capabilities, and determining trajectories and benefits of the PPR.

Herein, the developers will optimize the engine design for reduced mass and higher Isp, perform proof-of-concept experiments of major components, and complete a ship design for shielded human missions to Mars. 

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Earth To Mars In Just Two Months? New NASA Rocket Could Change Space Travel

NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program (NIAC) has six futuristic ideas one of which is a new plasma rocket for journeys to Mars in just two months. TWO MONTHS!

When we think about traveling to Mars, we have to consider the enormous distance between Earth and the Red Planet. It's not like taking a road trip to the next town over; we're talking about a journey of millions of miles through the vastness of space.

Currently, the trip to Mars takes several months, which is a long time to be cooped up in a spacecraft. Plus, there are all sorts of challenges along the way, like cosmic radiation and the need for heavy shielding to protect astronauts.

But here's where the new plasma rocket comes in. The Pulsed Plasma Rocket (PPR) selected for development by Howe Industries, is proposed to be super powerful and super efficient. NASA says it will be able to generate a lot of thrust (imagine a really strong push) while using less fuel, which means it can get humans to Mars much faster.

With this plasma rocket, astronauts could make the trip to Mars in just two months instead of several. Not only does it mean less time spent in space, but it also opens up new possibilities for exploring other faraway places, like the asteroid Belt.

So, what's the secret behind this speedy rocket? It's all about the technology called plasma propulsion. Instead of traditional engines that burn fuel, plasma rockets use electric fields to heat up a gas until it becomes super-hot plasma. This plasma shoots out the back of the rocket, providing thrust and propelling it forward. NASA says its design will use nuclear fission - the process of splitting atoms to generate energy.

Now, you might be wondering why traveling to Mars is so tricky in the first place. Well, one big factor is the distance between Earth and Mars, which changes as both planets orbit the Sun. Sometimes, they're closer together, and other times, they're farther apart.

This means astronauts have to time their journey just right to make sure they arrive at Mars when it's closest to Earth.

ALSO SEE: NASA Team Prepares For Gruelling Mars Mission Next Month; Here's All About It

According to an official statement, the NIAC Phase I included designing the spacecraft and its power system as part of a study focusing on a large, heavily shielded ship to transport humans and cargo to Mars for the development of a Martian base.

In Phase II, the engineers will refine the rocket to reduce its mass, make it more robust and complete a ship design for shielded human missions to the red planet.

ALSO SEE: What Does A Solar Eclipse On Mars Look Like? NASA Answers With Breathtaking Views

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Rocketstar announces successful demonstration of fusion-enhanced pulsed plasma electric propulsion.

Innovator of in-space propulsion and digital signal processing creates the world’s first electric propulsion device enhanced with nuclear fusion

NEW YORK, March 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RocketStar Inc. has successfully demonstrated the FireStar Drive, a groundbreaking electric propulsion unit for spacecraft that uses nuclear fusion-enhanced pulsed plasma. This innovative device significantly boosts the performance of RocketStar's base water-fueled pulsed plasma thruster by utilizing a unique form of aneutronic nuclear fusion. The base thruster generates high-speed protons through the ionization of water vapor. When these protons collide with the nucleus of a boron atom, the atom undergoes fusion, transforming into a high-energy form of carbon that rapidly decays into three alpha particles. By introducing boron into the thruster's exhaust, the FireStar Drive enables this fusion process. Similar to the way an afterburner enhances thrust in a jet engine by introducing fuel into the exhaust, the fusion occurring in the thruster's exhaust significantly improves its performance.

Discovery   The fusion discovery was first made during an SBIR Phase 1 for AFWERX where boronated water was introduced into the pulsed plasma thruster’s exhaust plume. This created alpha particles and gamma rays, clear indications of nuclear fusion. It was further validated during the subsequent SBIR Phase 2, where at Georgia Tech's High Power Electric Propulsion Laboratory (HPEPL) in Atlanta, Georgia it not only created the ionizing radiation but also improved the base propulsion unit’s thrust by 50%.

“RocketStar has not just incrementally improved a propulsion system, but has taken a leap forward by applying a novel concept, creating a fusion-fission reaction in the exhaust,” said Adam Hecht, Professor of Nuclear Engineering at the University of New Mexico. “This is an exciting time in technology development, and I am looking forward to their future innovations.”

“We are thrilled at the results of our initial testing on an idea that our team has been exploring for some time,” said Chris Craddock, CEO of RocketStar. “On a napkin at a conference in Florida, I sketched this idea out and described it to Wes Faler, the founder of Miles Space. He was quite clever in developing both the base thruster and the fusion enhancement. We acquired Miles Space and Faler is now our CTO. So now I’m excited to take our already stellar thruster and make it fusion-enhanced with remarkable improvements in performance. Thanks to AFWERX and the USSF for believing it was possible!”

Next Steps RocketStar’s current thruster is now available for delivery to customers. It’s called the M1.5 and will be demonstrated in space as a hosted payload on D-Orbit’s proprietary OTV ION Satellite Carrier which will go on two SpaceX Transporter missions scheduled for July and October of this year.

“We are very happy to have the opportunity to work alongside RocketStar and contribute to the demonstration of the M1.5,” said Matteo Lorenzoni, Head of Sales at D-Orbit. “We just integrated the thruster onto the ION Satellite Carrier, and look forward to witnessing its performance in orbit.”

Plans to test the FireStar Drive include further ground testing this year with an in-space demonstration scheduled for February 2025 as a hosted payload on Rogue Space System’s Barry-2 spacecraft. “We are very excited to test FireStar for RocketStar,” said Brent Abbott, CRO at Rogue Space Systems. “We look forward to considering it for future Rogue missions.”

*** About RocketStar RocketStar is focused on providing revolutionary spacecraft engine technologies including aerospike rocket engines and fusion-enhanced electric propulsion. The company also has developed a suite of digital signal processing (DSP) technologies that enable deep space communications, low probability of intercepts/detection communications, passive radar, and alternative PNT among other capabilities. For more information, visit: rocketstar.nyc

About AFRL The Air Force Research Laboratory is the primary scientific research and development center for the Department of the Air Force. AFRL plays an integral role in leading the discovery, development, and integration of affordable warfighting technologies for our air, space and cyberspace force. With a workforce of more than 12,500 across nine technology areas and 40 other operations across the globe, AFRL provides a diverse portfolio of science and technology ranging from fundamental to advanced research and technology development. For more information, visit: afresearchlab.com/  

About AFWERX   As the innovation arm of the DAF and a directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory, AFWERX brings cutting-edge American ingenuity from small businesses and start-ups to address the most pressing challenges of the DAF. AFWERX employs approximately 325 military, civilian and contractor personnel at six hubs and sites executing an annual $1.4 billion budget. Since 2019, AFWERX has executed 4,697 contracts worth more than $2.6 billion to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base and drive faster technology transition to operational capability. For more information, visit: afwerx.com

About D-Orbit   Founded in 2011, D-Orbit is the first company addressing the logistics needs of the space market. The company’s roadmap includes becoming a relevant player in the in-orbit servicing market, which is forecasted to become one of the largest, growing markets within the space sector. D-Orbit has offices in Italy, Portugal, the UK, and the US; its commitment to pursuing business models that are profitable, friendly for the environment, and socially beneficial, led D-Orbit S.p.A. to become the first certified B-Corp space company in the world. For more information, visit: dorbit.space

About Rogue Space Systems Corporation   Rogue Space Systems Corporation is a Gilford, New Hampshire-based company that designs satellite vehicles and subsystems to provide on-orbit services to satellite operators. Founded in 2020, the Rogue team is building a fleet of Orbital Robots (Orbots™) that will perform a variety of services for orbital assets in LEO, MEO, and GEO including inspection, maintenance, repair, transport and more. The fleet is supported by a first of its kind AI-enabled sensory observation platform. For more information, visit:  www.rogue.space .

Media Contact   Karen Hamill, Communications Strategy Group  [email protected]

Disclaimer The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Air Force, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.

Nuclear fusion breakthrough: What does it mean for space exploration?

Some scientists say nuclear fusion propulsion is inevitable. But how far away is it, given recent breakthroughs?

The announcement this week of fusion ignition is a major scientific advancement, one that is decades in the making. More energy was produced than the laser energy used to spark the first controlled fusion triumph. 

The result: replicating the fusion that powers the sun .

On Dec. 5, a team at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) achieved the milestone . As noted by Kim Budil, director of the laboratory: "Crossing this threshold is the vision that has driven 60 years of dedicated pursuit — a continual process of learning, building, expanding knowledge and capability, and then finding ways to overcome the new challenges that emerged," Budil said.

The nuclear fusion feat has broad implications, fueling hopes of clean, limitless energy. As for space exploration, one upshot from the landmark research is attaining the long-held dream of future rockets that are driven by fusion propulsion. 

But is that prospect still a pipe dream or is it now deemed reachable? If so, how much of a future are we looking at?

Related: Major breakthrough in pursuit of nuclear fusion unveiled by US scientists

Data points

The fusion breakthrough is welcomed and exciting news for physicist Fatima Ebrahimi at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in New Jersey. 

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Ebrahimi said the NIF success is extraordinary.

"Any data points obtained showing fusion energy science achievement is fantastic! Fusion energy gain of greater than one is quite an achievement," Ebrahimi said. However, engineering innovations are still requisite for NIF to be commercially viable as a fusion reactor, she added.

Ebrahimi is studying how best to propel humans at greater speeds out to Mars and beyond. The work involves a new concept for a rocket thruster, one that exploits the mechanism behind solar flares . 

The idea is to accelerate particles using "magnetic reconnection," a process found throughout the universe , including the surface of the sun. It's when magnetic field lines converge, suddenly separate, and then join together again, producing loads of energy. By using more electromagnets and more magnetic fields, Ebrahimi envisions the ability to create, in effect, a knob-turning way to fine-tune velocity.

As for the NIF victory impacting space exploration, Ebrahimi said for space applications, compact fusion concepts are still needed. "Heavy components for space applications are not favorable," she said.

Necessary precursor

Similar in thought is Paul Gilster, writer/editor of the informative Centauri Dreams website. 

"Naturally I celebrate the NIF's accomplishment of producing more energy than was initially put into the fusion experiment. It's a necessary precursor toward getting fusion into the game as a source of power," Gilster told Space.com. Building upon the notable breakthrough is going to take time, he said.

"Where we go as this evolves, and this seems to be several decades away, is toward actual fusion power plants here on Earth . But as to space exploration, we then have to consider how to reduce working fusion into something that can fit the size and weight constraints of a spacecraft," said Gilster.

There's no doubt in Gilster's mind that fusion can be managed for space exploration purposes, but he suspects that's still more than a few decades in the future. 

"This work is heartening, then, but it should not diminish our research into alternatives like beamed energy as we consider missions beyond the solar system ," said Gilster.

Exhaust speeds

Richard Dinan is the founder of Pulsar Fusion in the United Kingdom. He's also the author of the book "The Fusion Age: Modern Nuclear Fusion Reactors." 

"Fusion propulsion is a much simpler technology to apply than fusion for energy. If fusion is achievable, which at last the people are starting see it is, then both fusion energy and propulsion are inevitable," Dinan said. "One gives us the ability to power our planet indefinitely, the other the ability to leave our solar system. It's a big deal, really."

Exhaust speeds generated from a fusion plasma, Dinan said, are calculated to be roughly one-thousand times that of a Hall Effect Thruster, electric propulsion hardware that makes use of electric and magnetic fields to create and eject a plasma.

"The financial implications that go with that make fusion propulsion, in our opinion, the single most important emerging technology in the space economy," Dinan said.

Pulsar Fusion has been busy working on a direct fusion drive initiative, a steady state fusion propulsion concept that's based on a compact fusion reactor.

According to the group's website, Pulsar Fusion has proceeded to a Phase 3 task, manufacturing an initial test unit. Static tests are slated to occur next year, followed by an in-orbit demonstration of the technology in 2027.

Aspirational glow

"The net energy gain reported in the press is certainly a significant milestone," said Ralph McNutt, a physicist and chief scientist for space science at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. "As more comes out, it will be interesting to see what the turning point was that pushed this achievement past the previous unsuccessful attempts," he said.

McNutt said that getting to a commercial electric power station from this recent milestone is likely to be a tough assignment. "But the tortoise did eventually beat the hare. Tenacity is always the virtue when one is handling tough technical problems."

With respect to space exploration, it certainly does not hurt in providing an example that great things can still be accomplished, McNutt said. 

"All of that said, it should be still a sobering thought that despite all of the work on NERVA/Rover there is still no working nuclear thermal rocket engine, and the promise of nuclear electric propulsion for space travel only had a brief glimmer with SNAP-10A in April of 1965," recalled McNutt. 

The actual use of ICF in a functional spacecraft has been a long-held dream, McNutt said, but that is very unlikely to change for a long time to come.

"Space travel has always been tough. That NASA has 'blazed the trail' that many commercial entities are now following does not mean space has gotten easier, but the new ICF results have added to the aspirational glow on the horizon of the future," McNutt added. 

"That said, no one should be fooled into thinking that space will somehow not be tough someday. It's called 'rocket science,' with all that implies in popular culture for a reason," he concluded. 

Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or on Facebook .  

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Leonard David is an award-winning space journalist who has been reporting on space activities for more than 50 years. Currently writing as Space.com's Space Insider Columnist among his other projects, Leonard has authored numerous books on space exploration, Mars missions and more, with his latest being "Moon Rush: The New Space Race" published in 2019 by National Geographic. He also wrote "Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet" released in 2016 by National Geographic. Leonard  has served as a correspondent for SpaceNews, Scientific American and Aerospace America for the AIAA. He has received many awards, including the first Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History in 2015 at the AAS Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium. You can find out Leonard's latest project at his website and on Twitter.

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• bwana4swahili And producing 3.15MJ of output for 300+MJ is somehow a major breakthrough!? We're still a long, long, long way from anything useful!! Reply
• Vernon Brechin In order to embrace the ground-based and spaced-based fusion concepts covered in this article one likely assumes that we have 20-30 years to turn this 'Titanic' around. Such dreamers typically have become masterful at excluding the following warnings from their consciousness. IPCC report: ‘now or never’ if world is to stave off climate disaster https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/04/ipcc-report-now-or-never-if-world-stave-off-climate-disaster UN chief: World has less than 2 years to avoid 'runaway climate change' https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/406291-un-chief-the-world-has-less-than-2-years-to-avoid-runaway-climate * This statement was made 4-years ago. Reply
• bwana4swahili Always gloom and doom, gloom and doom! Homo sapiens will adapt or die just as billions of species before them. Reply

bwana4swahili said: Always gloom and doom, gloom and doom! Homo sapiens will adapt or die just as billions of species before them.

• Unclear Engineer There is nothing about the climate that is going to kill off all humans by 2025, 2050 or even 2100, even if we continue to emit more CO2 than we pledged. What will happen is that a lot of our coastal infrastructures will be inundated and need to be moved or replaced, and a lot of people will find their climate has changed - some for the worse and some for the better. In the long run, if we continue as we are doing, sea level will top out at about 300' higher than today. The predictions that Earth will become unfit for life are not likely outcomes, because there will be social feedbacks that force changes in our ways. The bigger issue is whether those changes result in wars over migration that will existentially threaten our species in the nearer term. Reply

Unclear Engineer said: There is nothing about the climate that is going to kill off all humans by 2025, 2050 or even 2100, even if we continue to emit more CO2 than we pledged. What will happen is that a lot of our coastal infrastructures will be inundated and need to be moved or replaced, and a lot of people will find their climate has changed - some for the worse and some for the better. In the long run, if we continue as we are doing, sea level will top out at about 300' higher than today. The predictions that Earth will become unfit for life are not likely outcomes, because there will be social feedbacks that force changes in our ways. The bigger issue is whether those changes result in wars over migration that will existentially threaten our species in the nearer term.

• Unclear Engineer Vernon, you are drastically underestimating my credentials and experience, as well as my interest in the natural ecosystems beyond just human comfort. So, please drop the attitude that I am naïve, undereducated or otherwise unaware about the things you are advocating. I have been actually involved in the issues we are discussing for decades, so this is much more than an academic exercise for me. And, I am well aware of the IPCC and other reports on global warming - I have been following the issues since the 1970s, and am updating the projected sea levels (and local land subsidence) for impacts on my home every time there is an update, as well as following the research on the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica to see how new knowledge is likely to affect those estimates. I am also working on a solar installation for my property. I am also involved in habitat restorations and preservations in my local area. I don't just post about things that matter, I get out and do things that I hope will matter. So, you are going to have to adopt a more balanced style for discussing the issues if you want to have any effect on my understanding of them. Trying to come across as possessing superior education, experience or knowledge isn't getting you any traction. Debate the issues with facts, please. Reply
• Helio Vernon, ask yourself why RCP8.5 was replaced with RCP4.5? Climate modeling still doesn't have a strong grip on all the variables and how they affect climate, though it is critical that they keep improving this work. I like the use of the phrase, "climate sensitivity", to better address the real effort in climate modeling of all those variables, like the impact from CO2. Language is important and it has been abused. Consider how stupid the phrase "climate denier" sounds, which is, no doubt, intended as an ad hominem. I can't imagine anyone claiming there is no such thing as a climate? I wonder how many realize that more will die from cold than from heat in the next 12 months.? The CDC shows significantly more from cold in the US, which is based on death certificates. Other sources, however, say it is about even. Yet, world-wide, the mortality from cold is likely more than 5 to 1. here] Heat in the winter requires, currently, fossil fuels. Air conditioners made the south livable, also requiring fossil fuels. We are playing with lives of the vulnerable if we move off fossil fuels too quickly, and rhetoric suggests that's the direction being taken. Wind and solar can help but we must understand their limitations. More science, less hullabaloo. Reply

Admin said: Nuclear fusion has broad implications, fueling hopes of clean, limitless energy and the long-held dream of future rockets that are driven by nuclear propulsion. Nuclear fusion breakthrough: What does it mean for space exploration? : Read more

• Unclear Engineer Yes, that is interesting. Pulsar Fusion has made other types of engines, but not fusion based, yet. See https://pulsarfusion.com/ . Considering that their website says "NUCLEAR FUSION SET TO BE THE WORLD’S DOMINANT POWER SOURCE BY 2100", I put them in the "advocate" category rather than the "objective forecaster" category. So, when I read "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," I am hopeful but not overly optimistic. Research groups have been building fusion devices here on Earth for decades, and none are yet "continuous" or even close to it. True, an open system is much easier to run continuously than the closed systems that the other current projects hope to create for electric power production here on Earth's surface. "Containment" becomes "direction" in open systems designed to produce thrust. But, considering how slow the progress has been on other fusion projects, I will be amazed if Pulsar Fusion gets a successful orbital demonstration as early as 5 years from now. Reply
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What are the future propulsion systems for interplanetary travel?

In a few decades, enhanced versions of current propulsion technology could reduce travel time to Mars from about a year to a few months…

The current methods for space travel haven’t changed much in the four decades since we landed on the moon, says Paulo Lozano, H.N. Slater Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics—though they continue to work well enough to send satellites into space, and take humans 300-400 kilometers above Earth in relative safety.

Current spaceflight depends on a rocket that burns fuel and oxidizer, which turns out to be both expensive and deficient as a means of propulsion for long-distance space travel, explains Lozano. Chemical-based rockets get terrible fuel efficiency, achieving very little thrust per kilogram of propellant used, and their exhaust velocity can’t exceed 5,000 meters per second. Using these tools, Lozano adds, it would take at least nine months to get to Mars (if your timing and the planets’ alignment are just right), and “the rockets would be huge compared to the payload.”

An alternative is on the horizon, though: the plasma rocket. “Instead of burning fuel, we ionize it, ripping electrons from atoms in the propellant,” says Lozano. The rockets use gases like xenon or krypton—the ones on the right side of the periodic table—and an electrical source accelerates the ions in the gas to create plasma. In this scheme, the higher the voltage exciting the plasma, the more velocity a rocket can achieve.

NASA has begun using a version of this kind of propulsion system for non-human space exploration, with solar arrays providing a limited but steady source of electricity for space missions that last years. But future generations of ion engines could deliver the goods for the kind of space voyages humans have long imagined, says Lozano. “There’s no impediment to applying thousands of volts to charged particles, and instead of moving five thousand meters per second, we can now have an exhaust moving at several tens of thousands meters per second, or more.” Compact and efficient nuclear reactors on board could provide the electric juice for ion engines propelling cargos swiftly from point to point in our solar system.

We’d still need the power of a chemical rocket to break the bonds of Earth, though. Ultimately, we might “take a chemical rocket taxi to low earth orbit,” says Lozano, and then “get on the high speed train, the rocket with the ion engine” to other planets.

At MIT’s Space Propulsion Lab, Lozano is working on small-scale, super-efficient thrusters for satellites. He credits the movies in part for his fascination with space travel, and specifically, with propulsion: “I saw in Star Wars that the rocket was the most important part. To escape the bad guys or explore new worlds, you needed rockets.” Personally, Lozano leans toward a combination of robotic and human discovery missions, and looks forward to a time when new propulsion systems “bring huge robotic space craft to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and explore these fascinating and quite exotic worlds.”

Posted: March 24, 2010

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From Levitating Transport System on Moon to Plasma Rocket, NASA Updates on 6 Groundbreaking Space Technology Concepts

1. Fluidic Telescope (FLUTE):

2. pulsed plasma rocket:, 3. the great observatory for long wavelengths (go-low):, 4. radioisotope thermoradiative cell power generator:, 5. lunar railway system:, 6. sciencecraft for outer planet exploration (scope), you might like, post a comment, contact form.

Blue Origin launches six tourists to the edge of space after nearly two-year hiatus

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Blue Origin’s tourism rocket has launched passengers to the edge of space for the first time in nearly two years, ending a hiatus prompted by a failed uncrewed test flight.

The New Shepard rocket and capsule lifted off at 9:36 a.m. CT (10:36 a.m. ET) from Blue Origin’s facilities on a private ranch in West Texas.

NS-25, Blue Origin’s seventh crewed flight to date, carried six customers aboard the capsule: venture capitalist Mason Angel; Sylvain Chiron, founder of the French craft brewery Brasserie Mont-Blanc; software engineer and entrepreneur Kenneth L. Hess; retired accountant Carol Schaller; aviator Gopi Thotakura; and Ed Dwight, a retired US Air Force captain selected by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to be the nation’s first Black astronaut candidate.

Despite completing training at the Aerospace Research Pilot School and receiving an Air Force recommendation, Dwight ultimately didn’t make the NASA Astronaut Corps. He went on to become an entrepreneur and a sculptor; a new National Geographic documentary on Black astronauts, “ The Space Race ,” highlights Dwight’s pioneering story.

“I had no intention of being an astronaut. That was the last thing on my bucket list,” Dwight said in the documentary. “But once I was given the challenge, then everything changes.”

Dwight completed that challenge and reached the edge of space at the age of 90, making him the oldest person to venture to such heights, according to a spokesperson from Blue Origin.

“I thought I didn’t need it in my life,” Dwight said of the experience on Blue Origin’s livestream after the capsule touched down at 9:46 a.m. CT (10:46 a.m. ET). “But I lied. I really, really did need it.”

“It’s a life-changing experience,” he said. “Everybody needs to do this.”

The rocket booster landed safely a couple minutes prior to the capsule.

During the mission, the crew soared to more than three times the speed of sound, or more than 2,000 miles per hour. The rocket vaulted the capsule past the Kármán line, an area 62 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth’s surface that is widely recognized as the altitude at which outer space begins — but there’s a lot of  gray area .

And at the peak of the flight, passengers experienced a few minutes of weightlessness and striking views of Earth through the cabin windows.

The launch followed the success of an uncrewed science mission in December — the New Shepard program’s first flight since the mishap more than a year earlier.

New Shepard’s 2022 failure

A New Shepard rocket and spacecraft were set to launch a batch of science instruments on September 12, 2022. But one minute into flight, the rocket endured Max Q — an aerospace term that refers to a moment of maximum stress on a vehicle. It occurs when the rocket is at a relatively low altitude — where the atmosphere is still fairly thick — but the spacecraft is moving at high speeds, creating a moment of intense pressure on the vehicle.

Around that time, the rocket appeared to emit a massive burst of flames. The New Shepard capsule, which rides atop the rocket, then initiated its launch abort system — firing up a small engine to blast itself safely away from the malfunctioning rocket. That system worked as intended, parachuting the capsule to a safe landing.

Blue Origin later  revealed  that the cause of the failure was a problem with the engine nozzle, a large cone that directs the flaming exhaust at the rocket’s bottom. Onboard computers accurately detected the failure and shut the engine down, according to the company.

No injuries were reported on the ground, and Blue Origin said the science payloads and the capsule could be flown again.

But the rocket, left without a functioning engine, smashed back into the ground and was destroyed. Typically after New Shepard launches, the rocket booster guides itself back to a safe upright landing so it can be flown again.

During a December interview with podcaster Lex Fridman, Bezos said the escape system that jettisoned the capsule to safety is the most difficult piece of engineering in the entire rocket — but “it is the reason that I am comfortable letting anyone go on New Shepard.”

“The (rocket) booster is as safe and reliable as we can make it,” Bezos added. “The power density is so enormous that it is impossible to ever be sure that nothing will go wrong. … So the only way to improve safety is to have an escape system.

“A tourism vehicle has to be designed in my view … to be as safe as one can make it,” he said. “You can’t make it perfectly safe. It’s impossible.”

Rocket fix and return to service

The Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial rocket launches and is charged with ensuring public safety, oversaw an investigation into the failure. The probe revealed that the engine nozzle failed because it experienced higher temperatures than what the company had anticipated.

To fix the issue, Blue Origin said it implemented “design changes to the combustion chamber” — the area of the engine where fuel explosively mixes with oxidizer — and adjusted “operating parameters,” or the data that the company uses to model safe flights.

“Additional design changes to the nozzle have improved structural performance under thermal and dynamic loads,” the company said in a March 2023  statement .

The FAA formally concluded the mishap investigation on September 27, 2023, outlining 21 “corrective actions” Blue Origin needed to implement before returning to flight. The agency did not reveal details on what those actions were,  noting the report  “contains proprietary data and U.S  Export Control information and is not available for public release.”

The changes and New Shephard’s successful December flight teed up the company to restart its trips to space for thrill seekers.

Before the September 2022 failure, New Shepard rockets had flown 22 consecutive successful missions — including six with passengers on board.  Bezos flew aboard the rocket  in 2021. Other notable space tourists previously carried by the vehicle include “Star Trek” actor William Shatner and “Good Morning America” host Michael Strahan .

CNN’s Madeline Holcombe contributed to this report.

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