Novel propulsion ideas for moving around space seem like they're a dime a dozen recently.
Besides the typical argument between solar sails and chemical propulsion lies a potential third way – a nuclear rocket engine.
Positron Dynamics hopes to tip that balance by utilizing two separate breakthroughs derived from other areas of research. The first novel approach would be to put the fissile material in an ultralight aerogel. The second would be implementing a superconducting magnet to contain those fission particles.
However, it's not practical to send a whole bar of uranium fuel, such as that used in fission reactors here on Earth, up into space.Aerogels are extraordinarily airy materials that look ethereal when someone is holding them, as they are in the lead image above. Embedding fuel particles for the fission reaction in them would be a convenient way to hold the fuel together while still allowing the overall structure to be light enough to be lifted into orbit.
Superconducting magnets are typically used in experimental fusion plants, where they are used to contain the plasma needed to heat the fusion fuel but which would otherwise destroy any normal material. Given all the interest in fusion research lately, high-power magnets have also been receiving extra research attention.
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