Fusion propulsion with the addition of indigenous gases

A recent paper' explored the possibility of achieving cost effective Earth-Mars transportation by means of reusable heavy-lift launch vehicles that embody airbreathing and rocket propulsion to get into space, and interplanetary transfer vehicles that embody nuclear fusion propulsion with the addition of indigenous gases. Indigenous atmospheric gases were used with fusion propulsion because space transportation can be enormously simplified if the propellant does not have to be carried into space from the surface of the Earth. Several authors','.4 have in the past suggested collecting and using indigenous gases. This approach carried all these ideas somewhat further using both Earth and Mars atmospheres for interplanetary propulsion. The estimated Earth gross takeoff weight of the configured Earth-Mars transportation system was about 2,500 mt, close to that of the Saturn 5 system. The estimated weight of the system when taking off from Mars for return to Earth was about 1,200 mt. The mission utilized a heavy-lift aerospace plane sized for payloads in the 150 to 250 mt range with assumed extension of airbreathing technology to as high as Mach 16 speed. The analysis was performed for a 250-day Earth-to-Mars round trip involving five people, 25 mt of payload to Mars, a 30 day stay on Martian soil, and return of the people, module, and 7 mt of payload to Earth. Performance calculations of the fusion propulsion were limited to just the Earth-Mars portion of the mission during which nitrogen was used as the propellant. This paper will discuss fusion propulsion, the selected approach, review the fusion propulsion calculations for the Earth-Mars transfer, and calculate fusion u propulsion performance with carbon dioxide during the return flight.