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The baseline design for the VISTA spacecraft concept employs a diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) driver. This type of driver is now under development at LLNL and elsewhere as an extension of the mature solid-state (glass) laser technology developed for terrestrial applications of inertial confinement fusion (ICF). A DPSSL is repratable up to at least 30 Hz, and has an efficiency soon to be experimentally verified of at least 10%. By using a detailed systems code including the essential physics of a DPSSL, we have run parameter studies for the baseline roundtrip (RT) to Mars with a 100-ton payload. We describe the results of these studies as a function of the optimized (minimum) RT flight duration. We also demonstrate why DT fuel gives the best performance, although DD, D3He, or even antimatter can be used, and why DT-ignited DD is probably the fuel most preferred. We also describe the overall power flow, showing where the fusion energy is ultimately utilized, and estimate the variation in performance to the planets dictated by variations in target gain and other parameters.
Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) is an attractive engine power source for interplanetary manned spacecraft, especially for near-term missions requiring minimum flight duration, because ICF has inherent high power-to-mass ratios and high specific impulses. We have developed a new vehicle concept called VISTA that uses ICF and is capable of round-trip manned missions to Mars in 100 days using A.D. 2020 technology. We describe VISTA's engine operation, discuss associated plasma issues, and describe the advantages of DT fuel for near-term applications. Although ICF is potentially superior to non-fusion technologies for near-term interplanetary transport, the performance capabilities of VISTA cannot be meaningfully compared with those of magnetic-fusion systems because of the lack of a comparable study of the magnetic-fusion systems. We urge that such a study be conducted.
Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) is an ideal technology to power self-contained single-stage piloted (manned) spacecraft within the solar system because of its inherently high power/mass ratios and high specific impulses (i.e., high exhaust velocities). These technological advantages are retained when ICF is utilized with a magnetic thrust chamber, which avoids the plasma thermalization and resultant degradation of specific impulse that are unavoidable with the use of mechanical thrust chambers. We started with Rod Hyde's 1983 description of an ICF-powered engine concept using a magnetic thrust chamber, and conducted a more detailed systems study to develop a viable, realistic, and defensible spacecraft concept based on ICF technology projected to be available in the first half of the 21st century. The results include an entirely new conical spacecraft conceptual design utilizing near-existing radiator technology. We describe the various vehicle systems for this new concept, estimate the missions performance capabilities for general missions to the planets within the solar system, and describe in detail the performance for the baseline mission of a piloted roundtrip to Mars with a 100-ton payload. For this mission, we show that roundtrips totaling [ge]145 days are possible with advanced DT fusion technology and a total (wet) spacecraft mass of about 6000 metric tons. Such short-duration missions are advantageous to minimize the known cosmic-radiation hazards to astronauts, and are even more important to minimize the physiological deteriorations arising from zero gravity. These ICF-powered missions are considerably faster than those available using chemical or nuclear-electric-propulsion technologies with minimum-mass vehicle configurations. VISTA also offers onboard artificial gravity and propellant-based shielding from cosmic rays, thus reducing the known hazards and physiological deteriorations to insignificant levels. We emphasize, however, that the degree to which an ICF-powered vehicle can outperform a vehicle using any other realistic technology depends on the degree to which terrestrial-based ICF research can develop the necessary energy gain from ICF targets. With aggressive progress in such terrestrial research, VISTA will be able to make roundtrip missions to Pluto in [approx]7 years, and missions to points just beyond the solar system within a human lifetime.
The technology of the next few decades could possibly allow us to explore with robotic probes the closest stars outside our Solar System, and maybe even observe some of the recently discovered planets circling these stars. This book looks at the reasons for exploring our stellar neighbors and at the technologies we are developing to build space probes that can traverse the enormous distances between the stars. In order to reach the nearest stars, we must first develop a propulsion technology that would take our robotic probes there in a reasonable time. Such propulsion technology has radically different requirements from conventional chemical rockets, because of the enormous distances that must be crossed. Surprisingly, many propulsion schemes for interstellar travel have been suggested and await only practical engineering solutions and the political will to make them a reality. This is a result of the tremendous advances in astrophysics that have been made in recent decades and the perseverance and imagination of tenacious theoretical physicists. This book explores these different propulsion schemes – all based on current physics – and the challenges they present to physicists, engineers, and space exploration entrepreneurs. This book will be helpful to anyone who really wants to understand the principles behind and likely future course of interstellar travel and who wants to recognizes the distinctions between pure fantasy (such as Star Trek’s ‘warp drive’) and methods that are grounded in real physics and offer practical technological solutions for exploring the stars in the decades to come.
An understandable perspective on the types of space propulsion systems necessary to enable low-cost space flights to Earth orbit and to the Moon and the future developments necessary for exploration of the solar system and beyond to the stars.
An understandable perspective on the types of space propulsion systems necessary to enable low-cost space flights to Earth orbit and to the Moon and the future developments necessary for exploration of the solar system and beyond to the stars.
Communication Satellite Systems Technology reviews the state of the art in communication satellite systems technology. Topics covered range from commercial point-to-point systems and military satellite communication systems to satellite support subsystems and components, along with high-power systems. Communication satellites are also discussed from a sociological perspective. Comprised of 50 chapters, this book begins with a 1945 article by Arthur C. Clarke in which he proposed the construction of rocket space stations in orbit that would provide complete radio coverage of the globe as well as extraterrestrial relay services. The reader is then introduced to the Early Bird satellite and its hydrogen peroxide orbit control and orientation system. Details of the sequence of maneuvers required after transfer ellipse injection until final placement in a stationary orbit are given. The methods of calculation of maneuver parameters, as well as numerical examples of certain Early Bird orbit changes and maneuver parameters, are described. The effects of the principal long-term disturbing forces on the satellite are also considered. Subsequent chapters focus on military satellite communication systems; satellite support subsystems and components; high-power systems; and systems concepts. The organization and program of Intelsat are also evaluated. This monograph will be of value to practitioners in the fields of aeronautics, astronautics, and satellite communications.
In this paper, we indicate how the great advantages that ICF offers for interplanetary propulsion can be accomplished with the VISTA spacecraft concept. The performance of VISTA is expected to surpass that from other realistic technologies for Mars missions if the energy gain achievable for ICF targets is above several hundred. Based on the good performance expected from the U.S. National Ignition Facility (NIF), the requirements for VISTA should be well within the realm of possibility if creative target concepts such as the fast ignitor can be developed. We also indicate that a 6000-ton VISTA can visit any planet in the solar system and return to Earth in about 7 years or less without any significant physiological hazards to astronauts. In concept, VISTA provides such short-duration missions, especially to Mars, that the hazards from cosmic radiation and zero gravity can be reduced to insignificant levels. VISTA therefore represents a significant step forward for space-propulsion concepts.