Previous work by Bussard has indicated that certain aneutronic fusion rocket propulsion systems could enable establishment of self-supporting space colonies throughout the solar system at transportation costs less than one-tenth current costs to place satellites in orbit around earth. This paper shows that such colonization costs would not significantly increase, even if fusion propulsion performance that is significantly less than that estimated by Bussard would cause increase in the masses and flight times of some of the vehicles. Costs for some colonization missions would significantly increase if colonization vehicles could not be used for other space missions. But even under such circumstances, transportation costs would be extraordinarily low compared to those currently envisioned for solar system exploration.
Aneutronic fusion propulsion for earth-to-orbit and beyond
Space technology and applications international forum - 1998 ; 1998 ; Albuquerque,New Mexico (USA)
AIP Conference Proceedings ; 420 , 1 ; 1289-1294
1998-01-15
6 pages
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
Aneutronic Fusion Propulsion for Earth-to-Orbit and Beyond
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1998
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