AAWSAP DIRD, Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion, March 2010

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move to high power IEC operations which are non-electrical. Deep space propulsion is
used as an example.
SPACE PROPULSION
The IEC can be used for both near-term electrically driven thrusters for satellite
operations (using the jet mode discussed earlier) and for fusion-powered deep space
propulsion. The latter is illustrated in Reference 5.3 where a D-3He reactor was utilized .
This design concept is briefly summarized here.
Figure S.S. Image of a Fusion II Spaceship, a 7S0-MWe IEC Fusion-Powered Manned Spacecraft With
Ion Thruster Propulsion
The IEC Spaceship "Fusion Ship II" is shown in Figures 5.5 and 5.6. (Note: Fusion Ship
II represents an upgrade to high power of an earlier design termed "Fusion Ship I").
The overall spaceship length is 300 meters and the initial mass at mission start is 500
metric tons. Crew and avionics/computers are located in the central compartment at
the forward end of the vehicle. The crew compartment uses 12-m diameter chamber
and could contain a rotating centrifuge for sleep and exercise. A steerable antenna
located on the side of this module provides communication. Twin 175-meter long
assemblies, comprised of 5 D-3He spherical IEC reactors and Traveling Wave Direct
Energy Converters (TWDECs) each, generate 1394 MW of 14.7- MeV proton flux and
469-MW of thermal heat which is converted to 1197 MWe of RF electric power. 242 MW
of the electrical power, then, re-circulates to run the reactors while 750 MWe is used to
drive ion thrusters while the remainder of the energy is rejected as waste heat. A fusion
fuel re-circulation and separation system is operated continuously to remove the fusion
product 4He from the D-3He reactants. Any unburned fuel is collected via the TWDEC
energy convertors and recirculated back to the IEC reactors. This conserves the
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