Fusion Fuel for Space Propulsion

One of the subjects that is topical currently is an urgent need for energy generation methods that can replace fossil fuels. This had led to a large interest in the potential for wind and solar, but also for space solar power. Nuclear fission reactors are also still an option, although one has to manage the radioactive materials which must be stored for tens of thousands of years until they have fully decayed to background levels.

It it is clear that a nuclear fusion reactor would be much more preferable. This is because there are no radioactive products associated with it and so you don’t have to store materials in the ground for tens of thousands of years in the same way. This is much safer, better for the environment and also potentially cheaper in terms of long-term utility costs.

Nuclear fusion also makes sense, since we know that it is the energy generation that powers the Sun. This was discovered at the beginning of the twentieth century. The Sun has a massive nuclear core at its centre where hydrogen atoms overcome their mutual positive charge repulsion via a process of quantum tunnelling, which leads to thermonuclear fusion of atoms and the generation of energy via the mass defect and Einstein’s famous equation E = mc^2.

Similarly, since the stars are made of thermonuclear fuel, it also makes sense that any vessels that travel between the stars would also utilise this same energy generation mechanism. This way a spacecraft could fly from one star to another and simply fuel up upon arrival. Given the Universe is infinite, and there appear to be billions upon billions of stars, the potential fuel source is unlimited.

Nuclear fusion offers 10,000 times more energy per gram than nuclear fission, although it is not as great as the energy produced in matter-antimatter annihilation reactions, but this is much more difficult to source, contain and control. So fusion fuels represent a good compromise.

Another source of fusion fuels is gas giants, and this particularly includes Jupiter and Saturn. Since it may be difficult to approach close to a star, it would indeed be better for any interstellar spacecraft to fuel up from the local gas giants. Fortunately for us, astronomers have discovered thousands of such objects around the local stars.

As humanity expands further into space, it is important that we also develop an off-world independent economy to fund the construction of the deep space colonies and missions. A fusion fuel mining industry is just one of the fields that will emerge and facilitate this. Within our own solar system, as well as Jupiter and Saturn, there is also Uranus and Neptune, all contain large quantities of hydrogen and helium isotopes which are the core component of fusion fuels.

To the planets, stars and beyond!