A British nuclear entrepreneur believes he is on the brink of a scientific breakthrough which will half the mission time to Mars. London based Richard Dinan, who credits Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as an influence, says the technology his company Applied Fusion Systems is developing will half the journey time to the red planet and make interstellar space missions feasible.
His team of nuclearscientistsare developing a nuclear fusion reactor which will be small and light enough to fit inside a rocket. His vision is that in the close future, nuclear fusion will become a very real technology indeed. With the world’s largest fusion reactor- ITER due to turn on in 2030, fusion is becoming a major interest to today’s technology entrepreneurs. It is well known that fusion has the ability to solve the world’s energy crisis but investors seem to remain hesitant. Richard however began investing in fusion years ago.
Fusion is a key energy source but nuclear fusion will be used for propulsion applications too; revolutionising space exploration and leading to the dawn of the Star Trek age where planets that are currently out of our reach, could one day be travelled too and explored by humans.
Nuclear fusion is still woefully inadequate for practical human interstellar travel. To read more, click here.