The Hill ran a column Sunday on He3 fusion reactions and space plasma propulsion, under that headline. The author is long-time science writer Mark Whittington. He referenced the breakthrough to net fusion energy gain at the Livermore Inertial Confinement Facility; the plan of Helion Energy to use He3 fuel in their next device, under construction now; and a British company named Pulsar Fusion which is working on a “fusion rocket engine using deuterium/helium-3 reactions, that it claims will provide both propulsion and electric power for future spacecraft.”
Whittington also notes that none of the fusion development projects now using or about to use He3 as fuel, project that this fuel will come from the Moon; rather it will be made in very expensive components of their experimental apparatus. He adds that China intends, and states it has begun with tiny quantities, to bring He3 back from the Moon.
“A fusion engine that takes the plasma created by the reaction and shoots it out a nozzle with electromagnets is a game-changing technology that will reduce the time it takes to travel to Mars and the outer planets by orders of magnitude,” Whittington wrote.
“It’s the kind of advance that will make the difference between occasional voyages into deep space for scientific exploration and turning the solar system, with all of its abundant resources, into a realm of human civilization.”
