The VASIMR Engine - 0.000167 c / 50 km/s
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- Опубликовано: 26 авг 2024
- The VASIMR Engine - 0.000167 c / 50 km/s
A near-term engine from the Ad Astra Rocket Company.
www.adastrarock...
The purpose of this video is to make known-present this sound engine technology.
Credits:
Special thanks to,
Walter Matera & Shelby Zimmer
For being Superlight & Translight Interstellar Level Patrons.
Not to forget all our patrons, including new patrons!
Thank you for your support!
Blender
For all their hard work in making
an amazing and professional program,
Images:
Ad Astra Rocket Company for use of their images & videos
not to mention all their hard-work
www.adastrarock...
Conventional de Laval nozzle
commons.wikimedia.org
commons.wikime...
Music:
Approaching Alpha Centauri
by TeknoAXE's Royalty Free Music
www.youtube.co...
Waypoint L
by TeknoAXE's Royalty Free Music
Surf Shimmy
by Kevin MacLeod
incompetech.co...
Slow Jam
by Kevin MacLeod
incompetech.co...
Graphics:
AsteronX (In-house)
For more information and actual testing, refer to their RUclips channel, 'adastrarocket': ruclips.net/channel/UCxeMhYzV4id_Z9NrXoR-GqQ
how do you make or get such great animations for your videos? 🤔
@@osvaldofranco9036 they give a credit to the blender team at the end, so I'm guessing blender is involved at least, and they also say graphics are in house at the end of the credits as well
tyty!
@@Technodude255 XD
@@osvaldofranco9036 A lot of hard work. When creating an animation, you must think through thoroughly from start to finish what you are wanting to create. Don't be in a hurry, take your time and learn what needs to be done correctly. In addition, detail is important if your computer can handle it. The entire process, learning and creating, takes time. Our work, everything, can only improve.
Been hearing about this engine for well over a decade. When are we going to see this baby at work in space?
The engine has been and still is being tested: www.adastrarocket.com/aarc/VF-200
One day soon I hope. Your right though, it's been a little over 10 years since it was announced.
Development is going too slow. They should bump noggins with Elon. I'll bet that would change quickly if he got involved.
The issue is funding. R&D work with milestones, not quarter results. If it was Intel, microchip R&D is funded with the profit of microchips, which provides a continuous stream of money. But this company is pure R&D and investor culture is more likely to bet of failed synthetic CDOs that caused 2008 crisis (basically betting money on a wounded horse in horse race) than this engine (tech innovation) which has passed all the very demanding NASA milestones to this point where the next milestone requires funding. And the latest outcome of milestones are very exciting as it was more powerful than expected. It is a shame that people now bet on more wounded horses like CLO derivatives instead of this engine. If Dr. Chang had gone through having commercial activity, it would have delayed the quest for technocal solutions to the problems posed by R&D itself. Unlike Intel there is not an army of people behind R&D.
Well the electric needs to these engine is huge. You basicly need a nucleair powersource. So unless that is allowed its not going to happen
"What's wrong Scotty?" "Captain, we've a problem with the ion cyclotron resonant heater"
Greetings from Costa Rica. The Ad Astra Rocket company is 2 hours from my home place. One of my goals is to visit his facility and hopefully meet the man himself. From my understanding Mr. Diaz has been working since the late 70s in this engine. Hopefully it will come to fruition one day.
I was literally thinking about this engine just today. Wow, perfect timing!
When it's really, I can use it to run my ride on lawn mower. I have a lot of lawn.
I’m so excited to see how this technology develops! Ever since I saw 39 days to Mars on the cover of popular mechanics I’ve wanted to work on something like this, but first I should probably focus on my undergrad finals
AsteronX Thank you man I've been waiting for a video covering this engine for a long time
Wow, that guy and his company sound awesome! Thanks for this. :)
He is getting funding for 20 years and still no working product delivered. Even if delivered it requires MW of power which we do not have.
It is way more revolutionary than what you think it is. From chemical to VASIMR is a quantum leap in space travel. The next probably would be warp engines in the distant future.
@@aquarius5719fusion engine is much better than vasimir and it will happen soon!
The warp drive probally near impossibile...
This is wonderful news. I hope these concepts prove out and are implemented. We’re getting closer to warp.
"...To reach Mars in only thirty nine days."
For comparison, the Mayflower sailed from Southampton to Cape Cod in seventy days.
the 39 days claim is bullshit based on unrealistic and non existing nuclear reactors with near impossible power to weight ratios.
With the very best near term nuclear reactors (fission, but also fusion) you can get to Mars in no less than 6 months with VASMIR.
Not being an engineer, @@rogeriopenna9014, I'm far from qualified to debate the point. I merely quote the data provided by the video. If you would argue the matter, you'd need to take it up with AsteronX, not me.
There has never been a credible explanation of how this engine could reach Mars in anywhere near 39 days. Not even with a zero mass power source.
Its calculate to be nine months, due to the sad consept of canister bulk burning fuel, that must take idole duriation, if you traveled non stop in a massive space station at the rate of gravity fall, it won't be long to a place even like Mars, also way more comfortable
@Rogerigo Penna
Does it matter though? 6 months is not a crazy long time for how long you have to travel
So it's electrically powered. That energy has to come from somewhere
Nuclear
All that is needed now is for someone to build a fusion reactor that can be put on a space ship. Which should happen any moment now, I am sure.
Brilliant, as always
So proud of Dr. Chang, also the minds that are working on Vasimir with AdAstra Rocket company here
I spoke to my brother of such possibilities. Thanks I've been a fan for a while 😊👍
Hell of a pipe dream.!!
When can we expect an update on muon catalized engine? And I would be happy to know exactly how are the muons generated.
We are going to provide everyone with an update, we are busy working on several technologies, let's see what take place this year.
Several RUclips articles are available. There are opinions that the efficiency of muon production isn't as advertised as well as fusion yield.
"Advertising is legalized lying." - H.G Wells.
Unsaid caveat: The power required for matching the thrust of a chem engine means needing a city block sized power plant sending electricity to it. That is why current space craft that use these engines powered by solar panels get about as much thrust as the weight of a piece of paper.
Or a relatively tiny fission reactor
Hey folks, although our solar arrays are less massive now-a-days compared to just five years ago, me thinks VASMR just doesn't produce enough thrust for 39 days to Mars. What is the mass of the fuel for both acceleration and deceleration to Mars? 10 kW kilopower KRUSTY reactor = 1800 kg , that's for only 10 kW. I thing VASMR uses > 10 kW to function. I don't know what the mass of a appropriate solar array would be....(if you opt for solar instead.) Then there's the payload...what is that mass?
Respectfully, I just don't think (all things considered) that VASMR has the specific power to move fuel, power supply and payload in any meaningful way.....wish it had more oomph than it does. : I. , Kevin
Great comment. You nailed the basic problem: electric power to run it. Current solar is around 4 kg/KW, but this can be dramatically improved if concentrated sunlight is used in conjunction with SpectroLab triple junction cells that can operate at 900 Suns (if kept below 100 deg. C by active cooling) and at 40% efficiency. I believe over 5 KW/kg is feasible at one A.U.
Magnetic reconnection propulsion is far superior to VASMR in that it is less massive/thrust, is more efficient electrically, can operate at far higher specific impulse and does this by using the same trick the Sun uses to send out a flare.
BTW beamed power by say laser to similar PV can have superior performance to antimatter but is feasible today.
I just feel most of the stuff you guys are working on are actually in production somewhere under black projects..
A plasma engine with a temperature of 10 million degrees K would be very, *very* hard to conceal from anybody.
Conspiracy theory, much?
@@thomashiggins9320 not really, it would fit in a vacuum chamber of some research facility
@@thomashiggins9320 If you say so..
@@linecraftman3907 100% plus that is max temperature .. You don't need 10 million degrees to make this engine work.
If it's not for war it's not in a black project. Governments don't create black projects just for the sake of science and exploration of other planets.
Yay!
Brilliant desigualdade very simple and the way it functions is very easy to grasp
As much as I want to get excited about this, I learned that most technologies that sound too good to be true are always 20-40 years away from being a real thing. Even if this engine was proven working and safe right now, it will take YEARS before it's even considered for space travel or even tested in space. Isn't this engine being in 'testing' for years now? I heard about this a long time ago and it amounted to nothing yet. Makes me think of Fusion, a possible concept yes, but not gonna happen before I die.
Thats why you can get a bit excited, because this tecnology its been away for 40 years, and now they are ready to test the real thing in space, maybe months from now.
true and the hazards of just being in space has not been resolved. we are at least a generation away.
Great Video.. Thank You for putting this out. Please keep them coming :-)
No one:
The engine: reaches up to 50km/s top speed
AsteronX: has 50K subscribers
No, the PARTICLES reach a speed of 50km/second.
Go ahead and punch a brick wall at 10m/s(typical speed of a punch), see how much acceleration you actually impart to the wall. With the particle not specified, and the flow rate nowhere to be see, the actual thrust is impossible to know
@@blackoak4978 well if it keeps accelerating for a certain amount of time it CAN go up to 50km/s
No point in sending humans to mars, without this innovation on board.
HOT GAS GAS GAS, MAKING FUSION EN'MASS.
Excellent work.. I have not come across another RUclips channel like this one very informative...👍👍👍👍
The concept for the engine is very badass.
Although the problems of using that engine should have been mentioned.
For example I believe that just as ion engines that engine requires massive amounts of electric energy for reasonable thrust. You can't just strap it on the starship, you will need giant solar panel arrays, maybe heavier then the starship itself or a nuclear reactor, which raises safety and publicity concerns.
It has potential in some niches, but it's not magic (unfortunately).
nice clear info about this engine thank you
very interesting video, congratulations...
Ahhh an early plasma torch drive.
Would love to see a working prototype.
The actual test firing: ruclips.net/video/sXbYoxbG9wA/видео.html
@@asteronx Any updates to the progress of this engine?
@@mysteryguest9555 I would suggest that you visit their channel, have a look at their videos: ruclips.net/channel/UCxeMhYzV4id_Z9NrXoR-GqQ
Nice video, though be careful "degree kelvin" isnt a thing, it's just "kelvin"
Nerd alert
Semantics don't matter eat a bag of fire ants.
USS Enterprise, a moving ISS, we need two of them!
I don't get why its always about "this engine can get you there is ___ amount of time" is that with the same proportions of fuel to payload? How much more payload could be delivered if it were to take the same amount of time? Why go faster if you could burn less and bring more payload? Comparisons like isp and force (aka efficiency and how long a burn would be needed for x amount of delta V) are much less vague.
The long transfer time is because that is the most efficient method we have
39 days. shortening the travel time also makes manned flights to Mars that much safer, as the turn around for supplies and emergency missions would be so much more reliable and efficient
One 'might' be able to get there in 39 day, but, one has to slow down at the destination. Add another 26 months for that process. What materials do we posess to contain a temperature of 10 million degrees? Sweet nothing.
@@peterbarratt8699 Nope. Half he trip accelerate, half the trip decelerate. Result 39 days. And Mars is uphill in a higher orbit which helps to decelerate.
When are you guys doing the EFE craft model
Not to worry, we're working toward the goal.
That’s good 👍
@@asteronx your making a miniature version of it?
The vessel that uses it should be called a Witcher Class Spaceship.
About time! We cannot live with anxious technologies….such as liquid propellant….that type of propulsion is antiquated and archaic! Time to step into the 21st century. Thank u 🙏🏻 all…
I'm a big fan of the VASIMR rocket, but where did you get the figure of 20 starships are needed to refuel a single starship in orbit? It is actually approx. 7 tankers needed to refuel a starship fully.
It is almost time for Orbital flight I am so excited !
Thank - you .
Sorry I read his book, was bewildered where the high efficacy was. It turns out I’m not alone, Robert Zubrin has dismantled this as a viable IP transportation propulsion system. It produces the thrust but at a engine mass that negates its advantage for these ludicrous transit times quoted.
Zubrin also "dismantled" the idea of Musk of Battlestar Galáctica huge fleet of ships and Musk proved him wrong. Now you have a giant starship in the works.
It is easy to criticize. It is difficult to create and solve problems.
If Zubrin wants to reach Mars his own way he should build what is needed, like Musk or Chang did. Then he will learn to respect hard working people thinking on solutions.
The primary issue preventing VASIMR from being implemented is the portable nuclear reactor and radiative cooling needed to provide the megawatts of electrical current needed . I think several companies are currently working on such reactors though, including Rolls Royce.
Never mind that, the waste heat simply by powering the thing needs substantial radiators, even if it's solar powered. It's basically a microwave oven with a magnetic bottle to heat up the gas and send it out one end. The TWR is much lower than regular ion thrusters for a given power consumption since this thing is massive. VASIMR only makes any sense if a good portion of the plasma propellant's energy comes from undergoing nuclear fusion saving on shoving electricity in there (aneutronic fusion, too, otherwise neutron heating). Might as well settle for ion drives then skip to fusion drives when that works out.
The video feels like a school project. None of the questions that popped into my head were answered, which videos of this type usually do. The efficiency claim was not explained at all, there wasn't even a mention of where the engine would get the electricity from or for how long it can operate.
Resonant cyclotron mean they microwaving gas so it's expanding at exhaust chamber. They need to scale this up and more power is needed from nuclear power plant eg. LFTR. Target is 1G pull
I’ll believe it when they allow development of a 200 MW SPACE REACTOR.
This is our engine/reactor, it can be converted to either one: ruclips.net/video/9jAUXuL-6oc/видео.html
With those temperatures you could increase the exhaust density by injecting something like heavy water just before the exhaust leaves
2 of these engines would send a space ship to Mars in
20 days !
DML .
the key issue is the power source, the lightest by far being an efficient solar photovoltaic sail since by definition in space, we have the space for it, while solar winds can provide also additionnal thrust or orientation control. 80000 sq feets of sail would provide well over 20 MW of power for a powerfull journey..
this is amazing!
Looks like a two-stage ion thruster, or an ion engine with overdrive. I think they need a cooler name, how about "Oscillation Overthruster"? I think that YoyoDyne will allow it.
Of course a John BigBooté would have to be involved. We know Lord John Whorfin is still around! 🤪
What would be the power source for such a propulsion system
I believe it is possible to make a fission rocket that uses an electrical current to fission uranium or plutonium in a linear fashion without consuming hydrogen which would make it ideal for interstellar travel, anyone who is interested should watch "best method for interstellar travel" and "liquid plutonium rocket". The videos also have info on the constant 1g acceleration method, with this a ship can get to Alpha Centauri in just 3.6 ship/7.3 Earth years and have gravity the whole way (and that includes turning the ship around half way and decelerating). A 10 ton ship would need a mere 10 tons of continuous thrust. A ship can span the entire diameter of the Milky Way galaxy in 12 ship/113,000 Earth years with this method.
Hey!!! you are that rimwold guy. XD
Does the Muon g-2 experiment have any impact on the Muon Catalyzed Engine?
Just 30 years away right...
When you can bend space-time that's when we will achieve warp drive so we can achieve warp drive!
You mean a bipolar spacetime geometry distortion.
BriLLiant research en PLasma engines.
For those not familiar with metric 50,000 meters per second translates into 111,846 miles per hour. Voyager with gravity assist is the fastest manmade object currently and it's going 37,994 miles per hour. NASA and the other space agencies were sending up probes with basically VW engines and he went and built a top fuel hemi. Maybe we can colonize space after all.
I got very excited about VASIMR about ten years ago. But digging deeper I learned about a couple major drawbacks. The first is energy requirements - the engine basically runs on electricity so you would need a big nuclear reactor to power it. The second issue would be the problem of deceleration. A VASIMR ship could get to Mars in 39 days but it would zip past the planet unless it had a means of shedding velocity.
I also agree that Elon/SpaceX should use VASIMR engine in the starship. Or they can use both chemical and VASIMR engine same time,cause the final strship would have 6 Raptors engine,so it would be great if they used 3 Rvac Engine & 3 VASIMR Engine. I think it would take just 30 days to reach mars.
Can definitely say a better video than your older ones. Less breaks in your explanation, still has the fantastic renders (something you seem to be pretty good with or know who to work with), and as a whole a more realistic less sci-fi concept. I like sci-fi and all but sometimes it is better to hear something a bit closer to reality every once and a while like Issac Arthur going from mega structures to "The Nuclear Option" or "Near Future Robotics".
Shame this tech likely won't get actually used in space for another 10 years yet due to the system how we test new technology. Actually sounds kinda promising though I question how much it does to differentiate itself from a hall effect thruster or thermal nuclear propulsion.
The concept of the VASIMR engine is still just expanding a propellant through heating and then squirt it out the back. Humanity will never be gallivanting around the Galaxy StarTrek style if this is all we can come up with.
You need to watch our other videos, we already discuss the need for and use of field drives, photon and anti-matter engines.
Where do you put the nuclear reactor that is going to power it.
give me thrust to power efficiency ratios and then we'll talk, all I hear is blabber
There's a reason why Robert Zubrin basically calls it vaporware.
What I missed in the video is what thrust can this engine produce.
This video is long on flowery claims and pretty pictures but short on any useful information.
.0001 Newton. Not a lot.
@@billtoo4694 sounds pretty useless... :(
@@motomono I'm sure it can be improved. The big thing in rocket engines is exhaust velocity. The higher the velocity of the exhaust, the higher the speed you can attain eventually. We've spent decades fine tuning chemical rockets as far as they can go. It's time to look at new technologies.
@@billtoo4694 I can't agree more. It's just a bit disappointing that it's so week. I really hope they'll improve it when I'm still around to see it.
We need a update on solitons warp drive
We have plans to publish the results of our latest developments.
Very cool
WE WON!
Would be nice if you could talk about the specific advantages of your engine.
Your site states it's less efficient than the NEXT thruster, but has better Isp.
Is it cheaper than NEXT? lighter?
Right now it seems like not much gain for much higher complexity compared to other ion engines.
NEXT is both cheaper and lighter than VASIMR. VASIMR's main advantage is higher thrust and specific impulse over other engines and the fact that it can cycle between a higher thrust, lower specific impulse and a lower thrust, higher specific impulse mode.
In rocket science, specific impulse is *really* important. The fact that VASIMR has about 900s more Isp than NEXT is a pretty big deal.
It also has a reliability advantage over gridded ion engines (though Hall effect thrusters have the same advantage)
I remember reading about this years ago when i was only in primary school
R&D for microchips usually take 15 years. But it can be shortened with constant flow of money. R&D for rockets usually takes 25 years and cannot be shortened. Less money flow can slow down progress.
@@aquarius5719 Looking at Falcon 9 tells me you are wrong. Then looking at Starship tells me you are double wrong. Then I looked at RocketLab and that was 3rd strike. You shouldnt spread bullshit like that.
Parker Solar probe has already reached a speed of 160km/s with a projected max as 200 km/s. Not an exhausting gas, but a mechanical module itself. So, comparing 50 km/s with a speed of light looks very funny -)
So when do we leave ?
A great engine, for now it takes us about 6 months to go to Mars and with it it would be a matter of 15 days.
Very interesting, but no real detail. I would like to see some calculations of the power requirements to move a meaningful payload between Earth orbit and Mars orbit. How are they going to generate the power - solar arrays or nuclear reactor? How much reaction mass will they need to be ionised?
What will be de electric power Supply in space? And what is de energy consume per mile?
It may be able to reach high velocities but it also has to slow down before assuming orbit and that takes just about as much time as it does to accelerate to top speed.
Going from Earth to Mars is climbing to a higher orbit. Slowing down when climbing a mountain is not that hard.
There are too many questions unanswered, if this is so efficient and promising why is no one using these engines yet? What are the most challenging technical difficulties to make a functional VASIMR engine today? How much energy is required to send a probe to mars in 30 days? Can we store that energy using batteries with current technology?
Elon should consider using the Vasimr Engine on his Starships.
This will make the 1 million by 2050 more possible.
yeah if you want to accelerate by years rather seconds
@@Technodude255 You think the VASIMR engine is an ION engine?
@@WolfeSaber9933 more like in the same ball park as a ion engine. The plasma will take significantly more time to be accelerated compared to chemical reactions. Thrust is very weak with this technology
The item that is never mentioned is VASMIR is the need for electrical power. Solar panels have improved vastly in the last decade and a conventional nuclear power source is possible... but has to provide power to run the engine.
wait, so it's 0.01 or 0.000167/c??
I almost forgot this thing existed.
i bet you anything a helicon coupler is what was used in the famed "100 mile/gallon" carburetor...
For only together as people will be we able to achieve interstellar travel :)
What happened to the plan to put a test of this on the International Space Station?
Money perhaps? It is not cheap to put something up there.
Wow I like that engine, if combined with spaceX it would revolutionize space flight🖒.. cA
Actually it wouldn't work with their current plans basically at all. For use to use this we likely are talking faster to Mars as in "higher specific impulse" but lower delta V similar to hall effect and thermal nuclear propulsion vs combustion. In that regard it would require extra staging which goes against SpaceX's current plans of refueling on Mars and coming back. The second stage would need to be disgarded in space to make it to Mars but then you no longer have it for the way back.
From what I can find online, the VASIMR while pitched for both high and low thrust currently only works in practice for low thrust high specific impulse. It seems to have similar struggles to thermal nuclear rockets for take off. In thermal nuclear rockets the issue is that we don't have the materials to sustain the heat needed to reach orbital velocity from Earth (about 4400K). For the VASIMR it seems more that research is more in the way of competing with hall effect thrusters though with the struggle being energy demand being incredibly high (likely requiring a nuclear fuel to truly power it).
The issue if nuclear power is the same reason we currently lack any manned hall effect rockets however with Congress allowing for progress to continue into nuclear rockets we might finally get them. Though again, I have a feeling the VASIMR is going to be over shadowed by thermal nuclear and hall effect thrusters which both are more proven technology. NERVA was a whole program back in the 50-60s of thermal nuclear rocket engines and hall effect thrusters are used every day for satellites. They have to make a pretty good argument and show it work in practice to really win a space in the field.
@@Skylancer727 just make a space tug and refuel it with starships
If I am correct Elon likes in house developments. But I suspect that sooner or later they will realize about the need for a faster trip to Mars. If unprotected from radiation, in 8 months you may have blind people reaching Mars. And to protect from radiation you may need lile 1 meter of water. Just as usual, humanity likes to learn the hard way. Sooner or later they will find the urgent need of using VASIMR to go to Mars.
@@aquarius5719 i wouldn't say blind but highly likely have cancer, a round trip to Mars would give you 0.7 Sv, while NASA astronaut career limit is 1sv, and around 5-8 will kill you for sure.
Actually elion mask will make it work if he want with space x with a update design
Some of Diaz' early designs used as many as 4 RCH stages - which would give peak energies about 10,000 times higher, with the same mass flow. Right now he just wants to get one unit (two mirrored thrusters and a power system) working as a space craft, which would be ideal for satellite or even large system transfer to geosync.
He has also used Hydrogen and heavy metal plasmas.
Heavy Metal Plasma sounds like an early 80s rock band
YOu know we have a long wait to travel to the stars when the headline for a new ship/engine boasts .000167c. A reasonable time to travel to nearby stars would require at least .1c. Even then it would be half a lifetime.
As mentioned in the video (and many other comments) this requires quite a bit of energy still. Also, you still need fuel (Argon possibly; or helium harvested from the moon!).
When in space, you need to provide a constant flow of Argon to maintain any plasma. To generate more thrust also probably gets tricky because of Paschen’s Law. Basically, with a fixed electrode gap (as shown in the schematic) the voltage will have to change in relation to the pressure created by the Argon to effectively maintain plasma. Nonetheless, I’m sure this is all possible, and I would be super curious to see some results from these tests!
For more information, check out their RUclips channel and website: www.adastrarocket.com/aarc/ and ruclips.net/user/adastrarocket
The video was good as far as it went, but I didn't hear any discussion about the availability of the inert gas fuel or its cost or weght, etc
"Keep wandering about space"
O ASTRA We have a Super Genius. This Guy very very very smart. Imagine going to Mars and back in 24 hours. Wow
What ever happened to David Adair who built a fusion rocket 60 years ago?
to put into context - originally nasa was going to send a Vasmir version to the space station - for station keeping (2015 i think) - In that case the power was going to be provided via a set of capacitors which would possibly trickle fill with spare power ready for a station boost. Didn't happen but think problem was at nasa end - possibly end of space shuttle? not sure how long they have tested engine for continuously on earth though - i vaguely remember 200hr being on their website at some point (though this seems low to me) but have no idea how long the mars burn would be - anyone remember the mars propsal for this - is it on all the time ?
Seeing that you would be going into the primal plasma field, your speed would be greatly increased. Space is full of plasma. You just haven't seen it yet. Remember to turn around half way there to slow down. Speeding up is easy. Slowing down is tough.
Mars is uphill. It makes braking easier
No mention of power source to drive this
Is there a possibility to use this high temperature to initiate a fusion reaction ?
Humans have been generating fusion reactions for decades, most of the necessary components can likely be found in your home. The problems are sustaining a reaction that generates more energy than was required to produce it. So far, fusion costs more than it can give back.
Just chuckled how it looks like megaphone at ~1:00 :D
Put it on a spaceship and try it out. Why have we not heard about this in the news yet?
That is because putting anything in space costs money.
Would the Kilopower reactor be able to power these engines?
I think nuclear power is the only way to make ion engines feasible.