Female physicist invents new fusion rocket that could take first humans to Mars

Dr. Fatima Ebrahimi, who works for the US Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), has invented a new fusion rocket that could one day take humans to Mars.

The device uses magnetic fields to pull plasma particles from behind the rocket and to propel the boat through space.

The use of magnetic fields allows scientists to adjust the amount of force for a particular mission, and astronauts change the amount of force as they fly in distant worlds.

Ebrahimi’s innovation would also take the heroes of space fairing to the Red Planet 10 times faster than current rocket propellants that use electric fields to propel particles.

“I’ve been cooking this concept for a while,” Ebrahimi said.

“I had the idea in 2017, while sitting on a deck and thinking about the similarities between evacuating a car and high-speed exhaust particles.”

“During its operation, this tokamak produces magnetic bubbles called plasmoids that move at about 20 kilometers per second, which seemed a lot like a push.”

Fusion is the power that drives the sun and stars and combines light elements in the form of plasma.

Plasma is the hot, charged state of matter composed of free electrons and atomic nuclei, which accounts for 99% of the visible universe – and is capable of generating massive amounts of energy.

Scientists have been working non-stop to replicate the fusion in a laboratory in hopes of harnessing the power to produce electricity for rockets traveling through deep space.

Current plasma thrusters that use electric fields to propel particles can only produce a specific low pulse or velocity.

But computer simulations performed on PPPL computers and the National Center for Scientific Research for National Energy, a DOE office of the User of Science User at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, have shown that the new plasma propellant concept can generate speed evacuation. hundreds of kilometers on the second, 10 times faster than those of other engines.

This faster speed at the beginning of a spacecraft’s journey could bring the outer planets within reach of astronauts, Ebrahimi said.

“Long-distance travel takes months or years because the specific momentum of chemical rocket engines is very low, so it takes some time for the boat to reach speed,” she said.

“But if we make propulsors based on magnetic reconnection, then we could conceivably complete remote missions in a shorter period of time.”

Although using fusion to rocket is not a new concept, Ebrahimi’s propeller differs from state-of-the-art devices in three ways.

The first is that changing the strength of magnetic fields can increase or decrease the amount of thrust, which will allow better maneuvering through the dark abyss that is space.

“Using more electromagnets and more magnetic fields, you can actually rotate a button to adjust the speed,” Ebrahimi said.

Second, the new propellant produces motion by evacuating both plasma particles and magnetic bubbles known as plasmoids.

Plasmas add power to propulsion and no other propellant concept incorporates them.

However, the last difference between Ebrahimi’s concept and others is that she uses magnetic fields to pull plasma particles from behind the rocket – space-proven devices that use electric fields.

The use of magnetic fields can be a game changer, as it allows scientists to adjust the amount of force for a given mission.

“While other engines require heavy gases, made up of atoms such as xenon, in this concept you can use any type of gas you want,” said Ebrahimi. Scientists may prefer light gas in some cases because smaller atoms can move faster.