Latest news with #RichardDinan
Gizmodo
23-05-2025
- Science
- Gizmodo
Jaw-Dropping Video Shows Concept for Fusion Rocket That Might Halve Mars Travel Time
Over the past decade, a U.K.-based nuclear propulsion startup has been working behind the scenes to develop a fusion rocket that could cut flight time to Mars in half. This week, it unveiled the concept in a striking new video. The Sunbird Migratory Transfer Vehicle, designed by Pulsar Fusion, would be capable of reaching 329,000 miles per hour (over 529,000 kilometers per hour), the company claims. This would make it the fastest self-propelled object ever created, drastically reducing space travel time. Unlike current rockets that launch from terrestrial bases, Sunbirds would be stored on giant orbital docking stations each designed to host up to five at a time, Richard Dinan, CEO of Pulsar Fusion, told Gizmodo in an email. In the video, one of these rockets undocks from its station and uses its eight thrusters to gently attach to a larger spacecraft (the video portrays what appears to be a SpaceX Starship upper stage), then propel it to a faraway planet. Picture a jet pack, but for spaceships. Once it reaches the destination, Sunbird detaches and docks to an awaiting station. Such a system would allow these rockets to be used again and again, carrying spacecraft to and from deep space. The Sunbirds' unprecedented speed would be generated by their Dual Direct Fusion Drive (DDFD) engines, which the company claims will harness the power of nuclear fusion: the atomic process that powers the Sun and other stars. In theory, this type of engine could produce significantly more energy per unit of fuel than any that exist today. Pulsar Fusion says its DDFD engines are projected to produce exhaust speeds of roughly 310 miles per second (500 kilometers per second). But this technology still has a long way to go before it becomes available. The company aims to demonstrate components of its power system later this year, according to an emailed statement. The next step will be in-orbit testing, with a goal of achieving nuclear fusion in space by 2027. Getting the world's first nuclear fusion rocket off the ground in just two years is a lofty goal. But Pulsar Fusion is confident that growing interest in fusion-based propulsion will drive development forward, so to speak. Indeed, the U.S. and other global spaceflight leaders have set their own ambitious timelines for missions to the Moon and Mars. Sunbirds could quickly deliver cargo to both destinations. Pulsar Fusion expects these rockets to be able to propel 2,200 to 4,400 pounds (1,000 to 2,000 kilograms) of commercial cargo, such as habitats, rovers, or supplies to Mars in under six months, according to the company's website. Sunbirds could also be used to transport probes throughout the solar system, assist asteroid mining missions, and ferry telescopes to deep space, according to Payload. Each unit is expected to cost about $70 million upon commercial rollout, Dinan said. He believes the rocket's hefty price tag will be tempered by its 'substantial' returns, stating that customers could recoup their investment within one to two years through 'active service in orbital logistics, deep space science missions, or infrastructure deployment.' All of this hinges on rapid development and successful in-orbit testing. But if Pulsar Fusion can get its Sunbirds off the ground, our cosmic neighborhood will suddenly feel a whole lot smaller.
Newsweek
23-05-2025
- Science
- Newsweek
Nuclear Fusion Rocket May Hold the Key to Faster Travel to Mars
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The Sunbird Migratory Transfer Vehicle, a nuclear fusion rocket concept by Pulsar Fusion, is designed to revolutionize the way humans travel to space, cutting in half the time it takes to get from Earth to Mars. Over the past decade, Pulsar Fusion worked to design the rocket in secret. It was publicly unveiled at the Space-Comm Expo on March 11 and has continued to make waves since. This week the company released a fresh video, an amination that shows the concept operating in space. The video features the planned rocket in action, leaving a dock and joining with a much larger spacecraft to propel the craft's journey forward at speed. Sunbird uses nuclear fusion technology for power. The International Atomic Energy Agency defines nuclear fusion as "the process by which two light atomic nuclei combine to form a single heavier one while releasing massive amounts of energy." Pulsar Fusion's nuclear fusion propulsion system was developed completely in-house by a team of scientists. Pulsar Fusion's Sunbird rocket pictured in a rendering. Pulsar Fusion's Sunbird rocket pictured in a rendering. Pulsar Fusion The company commissioned two of the largest propulsion testing chambers in the U.K. to test the technology, and it plans to expand rapidly, the company's CEO said earlier this year, emphasizing the concept's scalability. "Nuclear fusion is the pinnacle of space propulsion technology. These reactors are uniquely suited to operate in orbit, where there's no atmosphere. In many ways, it's actually more practical to use fusion for in-space propulsion than it is for energy generation on Earth," Richard Dinan, CEO of Pulsar Fusion, told Newsweek. "That said, we must pursue fusion for both energy and propulsion, and I believe humanity will ultimately succeed in both. The recent acceleration in AI capabilities have mega implications for fusion. Machine learning models help us manage ultra-hot plasmas with far greater precision, enabling reactors to become smaller, more intelligent and vastly more practical. This is an incredibly exciting time to be working in fusion," he said. Pulsar Fusion was started as Applied Fusion Systems in 2013. In 2023, the U.K. Space Agency funded its work on integrated nuclear fission power systems for electric propulsion, developed in collaboration with numerous institutions, including the University of Cambridge. Pulsar isn't the only player in the space. In 2019 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced it was studying fusion-driven rockets (FDR), something it called "a revolutionary approach to fusion propulsion," and noting that "it is believed that the FDR can be realized with little extrapolation from currently existing technology, at high specific power, at a reasonable mass scale and therefore cost." Newsweek contacted NASA for an update on its research but did not hear back from the organization by the deadline. Pulsar Fusion's Sunbird rocket pictured in a rendering. Pulsar Fusion's Sunbird rocket pictured in a rendering. Pulsar Fusion Earth's nuclear reactors currently operate using fission. Pulsar's Sunbird uses a different fusion formula than fusion being studied for use in power plants. Large-scale nuclear fusion is thought to be a promising clean energy solution, but scientists believe that the practicality of its use on the planet is limited.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Pulsar Fusion unveils vision for ‘Sunbird' nuclear rocket to reach Mars in half the time (video)
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. When it comes to the future of space travel, nothing exceeds like excess. Pulsar Fusion hopes to demonstrate that axiom with its planned Sunbird nuclear fusion rocket, which is designed to travel at speeds of 329,000 mph (500,000 kph). That would make it the fastest self-propelled object ever created by humankind. (NASA's Parker Solar Probe has reached greater velocities during close solar flybys, thanks to the sun's powerful gravitational pull.) Pulsar Fusion — a U.K.-based aerospace startup founded by entrepreneur Richard Dinan — recently released a new concept design video that lays out the operational capabilities of Sunbird, a visionary project that won't rely on gravitational assistance to reach peak velocity. Theoretically, Sunbird's tremendous speeds could cut mission times to Mars in half, from seven to eight months to about four. Pulsar Fusion views the vehicle as an interplanetary tug; Sunbird would attach to other craft in space and give them a fusion-powered boost to reach their destinations. Related: Nuclear fusion breakthrough: What does it mean for space exploration? Pulsar Fusion has received funding from the U.K. Space agency. The startup is planning to begin in-orbit testing of Sunbird's Dual Direct Fusion Drive in late 2025, with an objective of reaching successful nuclear fusion in space by 2027. These goals are ambitious, of course. Nuclear fusion — the process that powers the sun and other stars — has not yet been harnessed as a large-scale energy source here on Earth.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Nuclear-powered rocket concept could cut journey time to Mars in half
The dream of nuclear fusion has been chased by some of the world's brightest minds for decades. It's easy to see why — replicating the inner workings of stars here on Earth would mean virtually unlimited clean energy. Despite a long history of attempts, and several breakthroughs, the dream hasn't turned to reality yet, and we're likely many years away from seeing a fusion power plant anywhere on the planet. Carrying out the process in space might sound like adding an extra layer of complexity to an already complex technology, but it could theoretically happen sooner than on Earth. And it could help spacecraft achieve speeds of up to 500,000 miles (805,000 kilometers) per hour — more than the fastest object ever built, NASA's Parker Solar Probe, which peaked at 430,000 miles (692,000 kilometers) per hour. With funding from the UK Space Agency, British startup Pulsar Fusion has unveiled Sunbird, a space rocket concept designed to meet spacecraft in orbit, attach to them, and carry them to their destination at breakneck speed using nuclear fusion. 'It's very unnatural to do fusion on Earth,' says Richard Dinan, founder and CEO of Pulsar. 'Fusion doesn't want to work in an atmosphere. Space is a far more logical, sensible place to do fusion, because that's where it wants to happen anyway.' For now, Sunbird is in the very early stages of construction and it has exceptional engineering challenges to overcome, but Pulsar says it hopes to achieve fusion in orbit for the first time in 2027. If the rocket ever becomes operational, it could one day cut the journey time of a potential mission to Mars in half. Nuclear fusion is different from nuclear fission, which is what powers current nuclear power plants. Fission works by splitting heavy, radioactive elements like uranium into lighter ones, using neutrons. The vast amount of energy released in this process is used to make electricity. Fusion does the opposite: it combines very light elements like hydrogen into heavier ones, using high temperature and pressure. 'The sun and the stars are all fusion reactors,' says Dinan. 'They are element cookers — cooking hydrogen into helium — and then as they die, they create the heavy elements that make up everything. Ultimately the universe is mostly hydrogen and helium, and everything else was cooked in a star by fusion.' Fusion is sought after because it releases four times more energy than fission, and four million times more energy than fossil fuels. But unlike fission, fusion doesn't require dangerous radioactive materials — instead, fusion reactors would use deuterium and tritium, heavy hydrogen atoms that have extra neutrons. They would work on minute quantities of fuel and produce no dangerous waste. However, fusion requires a lot of energy to start, because conditions similar to the core of a star must be created — extremely high temperature and pressure, along with effective confinement to keep the reaction going. The challenge on Earth has been to create more energy from fusion than is put in to start, but so far we've barely broken even. But if power generation is not the goal, things become less complicated, Dinan says — only the simpler goal of creating a faster exhaust speed. The reactions that power nuclear fusion take place inside a plasma — a hot, electrically charged gas. Just like proposed reactors on Earth, Sunbird would use strong magnets to heat up a plasma and create the conditions for the fuel — which would be in the order of grams — to smash together and fuse. But while on Earth reactors are circular, to prevent particles from escaping, on Sunbird they would be linear – because the escaping particles would propel the spacecraft. Lastly, it would not produce neutrons from the fusion reaction, which reactors on Earth use to generate heat; Sunbird would instead use a more expensive type of fuel called helium-3 to make protons, which can be used as a 'nuclear exhaust' to provide propulsion. The Sunbird process would be expensive and unsuitable for energy production on Earth, Dinan says, but because the objective is not to make energy, the process can be inefficient and expensive, but still be valuable because it would save fuel costs, reduce the weight of spacecraft and get it to its destination much faster. Sunbirds would operate similarly to city bikes at docking stations, according to Dinan: 'We launch them into space, and we would have a charging station where they could sit and then meet your ship,' he says. 'You turn off your inefficient combustion engines, and use nuclear fusion for the greater part of your journey. Ideally, you'd have a station somewhere near Mars, and you'd have a station on low Earth orbit, and the (Sunbirds) would just go back and forth.' Some components will have an orbit demonstration this year. 'They're basically circuit boards that go up to be tested, to make sure they work. Not very exciting, because there's no fusion, but we have to do it,' says Dinan. 'Then, in 2027, we're going to send a small part of Sunbird in orbit, just to check that the physics is working as the computer assumes it's working. That's our first in-orbit demonstration, where we hope to do fusion in space. And we hope that Pulsar will be the first company to actually achieve that.' That prototype will cost about $70 million, according to Dinan, and it won't be a full Sunbird, but rather a 'linear fusion experiment' to prove the concept. The first functional Sunbird will be ready four to five years later, he says, provided the necessary funding is secured. Initially, the Sunbirds will be offered for shuttling satellites in orbit, but their true potential would come into play with interplanetary missions. The company illustrates a few examples of the missions that Sunbird could unlock, such as delivering up to 2,000 kilograms (4,400 pounds) of cargo to Mars in under six months, deploying probes to Jupiter or Saturn in two to four years (NASA's Europa Clipper, launched in 2024 towards one of Jupiter's moons, will arrive after 5.5 years), and an asteroid mining mission that would complete a round trip to a near-Earth asteroid in one to two years instead of three. Other companies are working on nuclear fusion engines for space propulsion, including Pasadena-based Helicity Space, which received investment from aerospace giant Lockheed Martin in 2024. San Diego-based General Atomics and NASA are working on another type of nuclear reactor – based on fission rather than fusion – which they plan to test in space in 2027. It is also meant as a more efficient propulsion system for a crewed mission to Mars compared to current options. According to Aaron Knoll, a senior lecturer in the field of plasma propulsion for spacecraft at Imperial College London, who's not involved with Pulsar Fusion, there is a huge potential for harnessing fusion power for spacecraft propulsion. 'While we are still some years away from making fusion energy a viable technology for power generation on Earth, we don't need to wait to start using this power source for spacecraft propulsion,' he says. The reason, he adds, is that to generate power on Earth, the amount of energy output needs to be greater than the energy input. But when using fusion power on a spacecraft to generate thrust, any energy output is useful — even if it's less than the energy being supplied. All of that combined energy, coming from the external power supply and the fusion reactions together, will act to increase the thrust and efficiency of the propulsion system. However, he adds, there are significant technical hurdles in making fusion technology in space a reality. 'Current fusion reactor designs on Earth are large and heavy systems, requiring an infrastructure of supporting equipment, like energy storage, power supplies, gas delivery systems, magnets and vacuum pumping equipment,' he says. 'Miniaturizing these systems and making them lightweight is a considerable engineering challenge.' Bhuvana Srinivasan, a professor of Aeronautics & Astronautics at the University of Washington, who's also not involved with Pulsar, agrees that nuclear fusion propulsion holds a substantial promise for spaceflight: 'It would be extremely beneficial even for a trip to the Moon, because it could provide the means to deploy an entire lunar base with crew in a single mission. If successful, it would outperform existing propulsion technologies not just incrementally but dramatically,' she says. However, she also points out the difficulties in making it compact and lightweight, an added engineering challenge which is a lesser consideration for terrestrial energy. Unlocking fusion propulsion, according to Srinivasan, would not only allow humans to travel farther in space, but be a game-changer for uncrewed missions, for example to gather resources like helium-3, a fusion fuel that is rare on Earth and must be created artificially, but may be abundant on the Moon: 'If we can build a lunar base that could be a launching point for deep space exploration, having access to a potential helium-3 reserve could be invaluable,' she says. 'Exploration of planets, moons, and solar systems farther away is fundamental to our curious and exploratory nature as humans while also potentially leading to substantial financial and societal benefit in ways that we may not yet realize.'
CNN
03-04-2025
- Science
- CNN
Nuclear-powered rocket concept could cut journey time to Mars in half
The dream of nuclear fusion has been chased by some of the world's brightest minds for decades. It's easy to see why — replicating the inner workings of stars here on Earth would mean virtually unlimited clean energy. Despite a long history of attempts, and several breakthroughs, the dream hasn't turned to reality yet, and we're likely many years away from seeing a fusion power plant anywhere on the planet. Carrying out the process in space might sound like adding an extra layer of complexity to an already complex technology, but it could theoretically happen sooner than on Earth. And it could help spacecraft achieve speeds of up to 500,000 miles (805,000 kilometers) per hour — more than the fastest object ever built, NASA's Parker Solar Probe, which peaked at 430,000 miles (692,000 kilometers) per hour. With funding from the UK Space Agency, British startup Pulsar Fusion has unveiled Sunbird, a space rocket concept designed to meet spacecraft in orbit, attach to them, and carry them to their destination at breakneck speed using nuclear fusion. 'It's very unnatural to do fusion on Earth,' says Richard Dinan, founder and CEO of Pulsar. 'Fusion doesn't want to work in an atmosphere. Space is a far more logical, sensible place to do fusion, because that's where it wants to happen anyway.' For now, Sunbird is in the very early stages of construction and it has exceptional engineering challenges to overcome, but Pulsar says it hopes to achieve fusion in orbit for the first time in 2027. If the rocket ever becomes operational, it could one day cut the journey time of a potential mission to Mars in half. Nuclear fusion is different from nuclear fission, which is what powers current nuclear power plants. Fission works by splitting heavy, radioactive elements like uranium into lighter ones, using neutrons. The vast amount of energy released in this process is used to make electricity. Fusion does the opposite: it combines very light elements like hydrogen into heavier ones, using high temperature and pressure. 'The sun and the stars are all fusion reactors,' says Dinan. 'They are element cookers — cooking hydrogen into helium — and then as they die, they create the heavy elements that make up everything. Ultimately the universe is mostly hydrogen and helium, and everything else was cooked in a star by fusion.' Related article China is building a giant laser facility to master near-limitless clean energy, satellite images appear to show Fusion is sought after because it releases four times more energy than fission, and four million times more energy than fossil fuels. But unlike fission, fusion doesn't require dangerous radioactive materials — instead, fusion reactors would use deuterium and tritium, heavy hydrogen atoms that have extra neutrons. They would work on minute quantities of fuel and produce no dangerous waste. However, fusion requires a lot of energy to start, because conditions similar to the core of a star must be created — extremely high temperature and pressure, along with effective confinement to keep the reaction going. The challenge on Earth has been to create more energy from fusion than is put in to start, but so far we've barely broken even. But if power generation is not the goal, things become less complicated, Dinan says — only the simpler goal of creating a faster exhaust speed. The reactions that power nuclear fusion take place inside a plasma — a hot, electrically charged gas. Just like proposed reactors on Earth, Sunbird would use strong magnets to heat up a plasma and create the conditions for the fuel — which would be in the order of grams — to smash together and fuse. But while on Earth reactors are circular, to prevent particles from escaping, on Sunbird they would be linear – because the escaping particles would propel the spacecraft. Lastly, it would not produce neutrons from the fusion reaction, which reactors on Earth use to generate heat; Sunbird would instead use a more expensive type of fuel called helium-3 to make protons, which can be used as a 'nuclear exhaust' to provide propulsion. The Sunbird process would be expensive and unsuitable for energy production on Earth, Dinan says, but because the objective is not to make energy, the process can be inefficient and expensive, but still be valuable because it would save fuel costs, reduce the weight of spacecraft and get it to its destination much faster. Sunbirds would operate similarly to city bikes at docking stations, according to Dinan: 'We launch them into space, and we would have a charging station where they could sit and then meet your ship,' he says. 'You turn off your inefficient combustion engines, and use nuclear fusion for the greater part of your journey. Ideally, you'd have a station somewhere near Mars, and you'd have a station on low Earth orbit, and the (Sunbirds) would just go back and forth.' Some components will have an orbit demonstration this year. 'They're basically circuit boards that go up to be tested, to make sure they work. Not very exciting, because there's no fusion, but we have to do it,' says Dinan. 'Then, in 2027, we're going to send a small part of Sunbird in orbit, just to check that the physics is working as the computer assumes it's working. That's our first in-orbit demonstration, where we hope to do fusion in space. And we hope that Pulsar will be the first company to actually achieve that.' That prototype will cost about $70 million, according to Dinan, and it won't be a full Sunbird, but rather a 'linear fusion experiment' to prove the concept. The first functional Sunbird will be ready four to five years later, he says, provided the necessary funding is secured. Initially, the Sunbirds will be offered for shuttling satellites in orbit, but their true potential would come into play with interplanetary missions. The company illustrates a few examples of the missions that Sunbird could unlock, such as delivering up to 2,000 kilograms (4,400 pounds) of cargo to Mars in under six months, deploying probes to Jupiter or Saturn in two to four years (NASA's Europa Clipper, launched in 2024 towards one of Jupiter's moons, will arrive after 5.5 years), and an asteroid mining mission that would complete a round trip to a near-Earth asteroid in one to two years instead of three. Other companies are working on nuclear fusion engines for space propulsion, including Pasadena-based Helicity Space, which received investment from aerospace giant Lockheed Martin in 2024. San Diego-based General Atomics and NASA are working on another type of nuclear reactor – based on fission rather than fusion – which they plan to test in space in 2027. It is also meant as a more efficient propulsion system for a crewed mission to Mars compared to current options. According to Aaron Knoll, a senior lecturer in the field of plasma propulsion for spacecraft at Imperial College London, who's not involved with Pulsar Fusion, there is a huge potential for harnessing fusion power for spacecraft propulsion. 'While we are still some years away from making fusion energy a viable technology for power generation on Earth, we don't need to wait to start using this power source for spacecraft propulsion,' he says. The reason, he adds, is that to generate power on Earth, the amount of energy output needs to be greater than the energy input. But when using fusion power on a spacecraft to generate thrust, any energy output is useful — even if it's less than the energy being supplied. All of that combined energy, coming from the external power supply and the fusion reactions together, will act to increase the thrust and efficiency of the propulsion system. However, he adds, there are significant technical hurdles in making fusion technology in space a reality. 'Current fusion reactor designs on Earth are large and heavy systems, requiring an infrastructure of supporting equipment, like energy storage, power supplies, gas delivery systems, magnets and vacuum pumping equipment,' he says. 'Miniaturizing these systems and making them lightweight is a considerable engineering challenge.' Bhuvana Srinivasan, a professor of Aeronautics & Astronautics at the University of Washington, who's also not involved with Pulsar, agrees that nuclear fusion propulsion holds a substantial promise for spaceflight: 'It would be extremely beneficial even for a trip to the Moon, because it could provide the means to deploy an entire lunar base with crew in a single mission. If successful, it would outperform existing propulsion technologies not just incrementally but dramatically,' she says. However, she also points out the difficulties in making it compact and lightweight, an added engineering challenge which is a lesser consideration for terrestrial energy. Unlocking fusion propulsion, according to Srinivasan, would not only allow humans to travel farther in space, but be a game-changer for uncrewed missions, for example to gather resources like helium-3, a fusion fuel that is rare on Earth and must be created artificially, but may be abundant on the Moon: 'If we can build a lunar base that could be a launching point for deep space exploration, having access to a potential helium-3 reserve could be invaluable,' she says. 'Exploration of planets, moons, and solar systems farther away is fundamental to our curious and exploratory nature as humans while also potentially leading to substantial financial and societal benefit in ways that we may not yet realize.'
