FireStar Fusion Drive
Miles Space / RocketStar
Fusion-enhanced evolution of the FireStar water-fueled pulsed plasma thruster, delivering roughly 50% more thrust via aneutronic boron fusion.
Technical specifications
- Base thruster
- FireStar Foundation Drive (water-fueled pulsed plasma)
- Fusion fuel additive
- Boron (aneutronic fusion in exhaust)
- Thrust improvement
- ~50% higher than FireStar Foundation Drive
- Development origin
- AFWERX SBIR
- Planned flight demo
- Rogue Space Systems Barry-2 spacecraft, in-space testing
About
The FireStar Fusion Drive is described by RocketStar as the world’s first electric propulsion device enhanced with nuclear fusion. It builds on the base FireStar Foundation water-fueled pulsed plasma thruster by introducing boron into the thruster’s exhaust: high-speed protons generated from ionized water vapor collide with boron nuclei, triggering an aneutronic fusion reaction that transforms boron into high-energy carbon, which rapidly decays into three alpha particles. This process acts like an afterburner, boosting thrust by approximately 50% over the base FireStar Foundation Drive. The discovery originated under an AFWERX SBIR contract and has been independently validated, with commentary from Adam Hecht, Professor of Nuclear Engineering at the University of New Mexico. An in-space demonstration of the FireStar Fusion Drive is planned aboard Rogue Space Systems’ Barry-2 spacecraft.
Documentation
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