Aneutronic fusion Propulsion

Controlled fusion energy production has been under development for 60 years. The primary objective has been gaining the ability to create terrestrial power plants using deuterium and tritium as fuel. Unfortunately, this objective has been eluded for both technical and economic reasons. However, the threshold for achieving success in applying fusion to propulsion is considerably relaxed, especially if fuels are used that do not use tritium. Tritium has to be continuously bred; these reactions yield fast neutrons, which require shielding and cause structural materials to be periodically replaced. Such "aneutronic" fusion fuels, such as hydrogen fusing with Boron-ll, have been studied extensively for space propulsion applications since the 1980s

Aneutronic fusion fuels include those isotopes of light elements that when fused produce no neutrons or very few from the fusion of daughter products. Although there are eight such reactions for light nuclei, the most practical for fusion reactors include the following:

In Chapter 2/ we will review the fusion plasma physics needed to apply these aneutronic reactions to a confinement device to make a fusion reactor practicable for propulsion, which is described in Chapter 3. In Chapter 4, the relevance of these aneutronic fusion propulsion concepts will be reviewed and assessed for aerospace applications including near-space, orbital, and interplanetary propulsion, as well as the potential for interstellar use.

I think you get the picture. Heavy Ion fusion for propulsion of American-built spacecraft. These docs are 12 years old. The success of terrestrial Heavy Ion Fusion has yet to be solved due to size, cost, and theoretical problems yet to be solved in fusion plasma physics in relation to efficiencies and confinement. But folks, MAGNETIC CONFINEMENT, INERTIAL CONFINEMENT, ELECTROSTATIC CONFINEMENT, and MAGNETO-INERTIAL CONFINEMENT have all been tested, including Magnetic Mirror Confinement in Vicinity of Jupiter, and rest assured these DOD documents reveal not only working fusion propulsion but Lift • Materials • Configuration, Structure • Control • Human Interface • Power Generation • Human Effects • Spatial/Temporal Translation • Armament (RF and DEW) • Signature Reduction (optical, infrared, radiofrequency, acoustic) and that was the easy stuff.

Invisibility Cloaking

Ultracapacitors as Energy and Power Storage Devices

Metamaterials

Pulsed High-Power Microwave Source Technology

Warp Drive, Dark Energy, and the Manipulation of Extra Dimensions

Traversable Wormholes, Stargates, and Negative Energy

And more were added options. One has to wonder what this brings the sticker price up to.

BTW, the fusion propulsion doesn't even kick in until after MACH 14. That's right, the plasma propulsion drives are good for MACH 7 to MACH 14. Man, whats it take to drive one of these things......

In case anyone is wondering

Mach 14 = 10,375.358 Miles per Hour

That's too fast to need a rearview mirror

Feel like some deep reading? Download the docs here.

https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/the-advanced-aerospace-weapon-system-applications-program-aawsap-documentation/