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MFE & IFE Studies UW Neutronics Center of Excellence Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Shock Tube
Space Propulsion
Fusion is the only option that potentially achieves the most important regime for Solar-System travel: exhaust velocities of 105 to 106 m/s at thrust-to-weight ratios of 10-3. Such levels of performance allow both fast human transport and efficient cargo transport.
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FTI Publications
UWFDM-764 Lunar He3, Fusion Propulsion, and Space Development; J.F. Santarius, June 1988 (revised August 1988) [Second Conference on Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century (NASA Conf. Pub. 3166, Vol. 2 (1992) 459]. (31 pages, 1.4 MB)
UWFDM-875 D-3He Magnetic Fusion for Space Propulsion; J.F. Santarius, January 1992 [presented at the US-USSR Workshop on D-3He Reactor Studies, 25 September - 2 October 1991, Moscow]. (8 pages, 753 kB)
UWFDM-881 Magnetic Fusion for Space Propulsion; J.F. Santarius, March 1992 [Proceedings of the 10th Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy, 7-12 June 1992, Boston MA; Fusion Technology 21 (1992) 1794]. (10 pages, 1.1 MB)
UWFDM-900 Magnetic Fusion for Space Propulsion: Capabilities and Issues; J.F. Santarius, July 1992 [Proc. of the American Nuclear Society Topical Meeting on Nuclear Technologies for Space Exploration, 16-19 August 1992, Jackson Hole WY, p. 409]. (12 pages, 1.1 MB)
UWFDM-920 Magnetic Fusion Propulsion: Opening the Solar-System Frontier; J.F. Santarius, July 1993 [Proc. 2nd Wisconsin Symposium on Helium-3 and Fusion Power, 19-21 July 1993, Madison WI, p. 321]. (10 pages, 866 kB)
UWFDM-1048 Synchrotron Radiation Fusion Drive for Space Propulsion; J.F. Santarius, G.A. Emmert, H.Y. Khater, E.A. Mogahed, J. Brandenburg, July 1997 [presented at the 33rd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, July 6-9, 1997, Seattle WA]. (11 pages, 1.2 MB) [more]
UWFDM-1130 Field-Reversed Configurations for Space Propulsion; J.F. Santarius, June 2000 [presented at the 31st AIAA Plasmadynamics and Lasers Conference, 19-22 June 2000, Denver CO].
UWFDM-1209 Final Report for Research on Magnetized-Target Fusion for Space Propulsion; John F. Santarius and Mohamed E. Sawan, July 2003. (100 pages, 2.3 MB)
UWFDM-1287 Fusion Space Propulsion-A Shorter Time Frame Than You Think; J.F. Santarius, December 2005 [presented at the 53rd Joint Army-Navy-NASA-Air Force (JANNAF) Propulsion Meeting, Monterey, 5-8 December 2005]. (12 pages, 812 kB)
WCSAR-TR-AR3-9307-2 Magnetic Fusion Propulsion: Opening the Solar-System Frontier; J.F. Santarius, July 1993 [presented at the 2nd Wisconsin Symposium on Helium-3 and Fusion Power, 19-21 July 1993, Madison WI]. (10 pages, 486 kB)
Fusion Space Propulsion Using Field-Reversed Configurations;
J.F. Santarius,
April 2001 [presented at the NASA-JPL/MSFC/AIAA Twelfth Annual Advanced Space Propulsion Workshop, University of Alabama-Huntsville, April 3-5, 2001]. (15 pages, 1.1 MB)
D-3He Magnetic Fusion Space Propulsion;
J.F. Santarius,
May 2001 [presented at the 20th International Space Development Conference, Albuquerque NM, May 24-28, 2001]. (19 pages, 1.1 MB)
Magnetized-Target Fusion;
John F. Santarius,
April 15, 2003 [FTI Tuesday meeting]. (19 pages, 1.3 MB)
Burn Dynamics of Plasma-Jet Magnetized-Target Fusion;
John F. Santarius,
May 2003 [presented at the Innovative Confinement Concepts Workshop, Seattle WA, 28-30 May 2003]. (1 page, 686 kB)
Burn Dynamics of Plasma-Jet Magnetized-Target Fusion;
J.F. Santarius,
October 2003 [presented at the American Physical Society-Division of Plasma Physics (APS-DPP) Meeting, 27-31 October 2003, Albuquerque NM]. (1 page, 698 kB)
Magnetized-Target Fusion;
J.F. Santarius,
November 4, 2003 [FTI Tuesday meeting]. (12 pages, 926 kB)
Plasma-Jet Magnetized-Target Fusion;
J.F. Santarius,
May 2004 [presented at the Innovative Confinement Concepts Workshop, Madison, Wisconsin, 25-28 May 2004]. (1 page, 450 kB)
Plasma-Jet Magnetized-Target Fusion Dynamics and Stability Issues;
J.F. Santarius, P.B. Parks, Y.C.F. Thio,
November 2004 [presented at the APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting 17 November 2004, Atlanta GA]. (18 pages, 859 kB)
[more]
Fusion Space Propulsion-A Shorter Time Frame than You Think;
J.F. Santarius,
December 2005 [presented at the 53rd Joint Army-Navy-NASA-Air Force (JANNAF) Propulsion Meeting, Monterey, 5-8 December 2005]. (25 pages, 2.1 MB)
Exploration of Plasma-Jet Magnetized-Target Fusion Burn Dynamics;
J.F. Santarius,
November 2007 [presented at the APS-DPP Meeting, 12-16 November 2007, Orlando FL]. (1 page, 570 kB)
UWFDM-852 Space Propulsion by Fusion in a Magnetic Dipole; E. Teller, A.J. Glass, T.K. Fowler, A. Hasegawa, J.F. Santarius, April 1991 [presented at the First International A.D. Sakharov Conference on Physics, Moscow, USSR, 27-31 May 1991. Also published as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Report UCRL-JC-106807, and published in Fusion Technology, V. 22, August 1992, pp. 82-97]. (56 pages, 4.8 MB) [more]