Fusion engine could power superfast spacecraft

Ars Technica : A spaceship engine under development at the University of Alabama in Huntsville could reach a top speed of 100 000 km/h, roughly the speed at which Earth orbits the Sun. Called the Charger-1 Pulsed Power Generator, the engine is being designed to use a crystalline fuel made from deuterium—a heavy isotope of hydrogen—and lithium-6. The engine would initiate a fusion reaction by sending bursts of electricity through lithium wires, creating a magnetic field and vaporizing the wires into a plasma. The magnetic field would “pinch” the plasma toward the crystalline fuel, causing the lithium-6 and deuterium to undergo fusion. The team is also working to develop a magnetic nozzle that would direct the energy released by the fusion reaction so that it can be used as thrust. Although the challenges of creating more energy than is used to start the reaction and turning the energy into thrust are significant, the team expects to overcome them in time to build and launch a spacecraft to reach Mars in 2031.