{"id":836226,"date":"2025-03-23T14:12:12","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T19:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/23\/this-fusion-powered-rocket-could-halve-the-time-it-takes-to-get-to-mars\/"},"modified":"2025-03-23T14:12:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-23T19:12:12","slug":"this-fusion-powered-rocket-could-halve-the-time-it-takes-to-get-to-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/23\/this-fusion-powered-rocket-could-halve-the-time-it-takes-to-get-to-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"This fusion-powered rocket could halve the time it takes to get to Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"article-main-content\">\n<p><span>Interplanetary travel might be about to get a whole lot faster \u2014 and hotter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>UK startup Pulsar Fusion today unveiled \u201cSunbird,\u201d a nuclear fusion-powered rocket concept that could halve the time it takes to travel across our solar system \u2014 and, maybe, beyond it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Machine learning models show the rocket could potentially propel a spacecraft with a mass of about 1,000kg (2,200lb) to Pluto in four years \u2014 less than half the time it took NASA\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mission\/new-horizons\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span>New Horizons<\/span><\/a><span> mission, which was powered by regular ion thrusters. Earth to Mars? Four months. Earth to Saturn? Two years.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Rather than launch from Earth each time, several Sunbirds would be \u201cdocked\u201d in <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/low-earth-orbit-launchpad-for-europe-space-tech-startups-leo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">low-Earth orbit<\/a>, ready to attach to spacecraft and propel them deeper into the cosmos.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Sunbird would be fitted with a Duel Direct Fusion Drive \u2014 a compact nuclear fusion engine which could provide both thrust and electrical power for spacecraft.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/pulsar-fusion-nuclear-fusion-rocket-engine-half-mission-times-to-mars\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>Pulsar started building the engine<\/span><\/a><span> in 2023 at a site in <\/span><span>Milton Keynes<\/span><span>, England. Static tests are slated to begin in 2025 followed by an \u201cIn Orbit Demonstration\u201d (IOD) of the core technology components in 2027, the company said. When fired, the engine could temporarily become the hottest place in the solar system, creating exhaust speeds of more than 500,000mph (804,672km\/h). <\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Pulsar Fusion Sunbird - Migratory Transfer Vehicle\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" srcdoc=\"\n\n<style>*{padding:0;margin:0;overflow:hidden}html,body{background:#000;height:100%}img{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;object-fit:cover;transition:opacity .1s cubic-bezier(0.4,0,1,1)}a:hover img+img{opacity:1!important}<\/style>\n<p><a href='https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mjIdbHUAw4s?feature=oembed&#038;autoplay=1&#038;mute=1&#038;modestbranding=1&#038;iv_load_policy=3&#038;theme=light&#038;playsinline=1'><img src='https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/mjIdbHUAw4s\/hqdefault.jpg'><img src='https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/themes\/cyberdelia\/assets\/img\/ytplaybtn.png' style='top: 50%;left:50%;width:68px;height:48px;transform:translate3d(-50%,-50%,0)'><img src='https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/themes\/cyberdelia\/assets\/img\/ytplaybtn-hover.png' style='top: 50%;left:50%;width:68px;height:48px;opacity:0;transform:translate3d(-50%,-50%,0)'><\/a>&#8221; frameborder=&#8221;0&#8243; allow=&#8221;accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share&#8221; referrerpolicy=&#8221;strict-origin-when-cross-origin&#8221; allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>From the UK to Mars<\/h2>\n<p><span>Founded in 2011, Pulsar has spent over a decade on fusion research. More recently, the company started developing two other products in parallel: <\/span><span>a Hall-effect electric thruster for spacecraft and a second-stage hybrid rocket engine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201c<\/span><span>Pulsar has built a reputation in this industry for delivering real technology \u2014 not just talking about it,\u201d said founder and CEO Richard Dinan. \u201cWe\u2019ve recently commissioned not one, but two of the largest space propulsion testing chambers in the UK, if not all of Europe \u2014 and we have ambitious plans to grow from here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>While Pulsar\u2019s goal to build and test a fusion reactor in <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/topic\/space\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">space<\/a> in just three years is certainly ambitious, advances in AI could help. The company has teamed up with the US-based Princeton Satellite Systems to predict how plasma behaves under electromagnetic confinement. The <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/topic\/machine-learning\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">machine learning<\/a> simulations will guide the rocket engine\u2019s design.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In 2022, Pulsar secured funding from the <\/span><span>UK Space Agency to develop a nuclear-fission based propulsion system, alongside the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and Cambridge University.<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n                                Published <time datetime=\"2019-02-11 12:07:00\">March 6, 2025 &#8211; 8:50 pm UTC<\/time>\n                            <\/p>\n<p>                            <a href=\"http:\/\/thenextweb.com\/#\" data-event-category=\"Article\" data-event-action=\"Back to top\" data-event-label=\"Back to top - click\" data-event-non-interaction=\"true\" data-target=\"#next-top\">Back to top<\/a>\n                        <\/div>\n<p> Si\u00f4n Geschwindt<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/pulsar-fusion-powered-rocket-to-half-time-to-mars\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Interplanetary travel might be about to get a whole lot faster \u2014 and hotter.\u00a0 UK startup Pulsar Fusion today unveiled \u201cSunbird,\u201d a nuclear fusion-powered rocket concept that could halve the time it takes to travel across our solar system \u2014 and, maybe, beyond it.\u00a0 Machine learning models show the rocket could potentially propel a spacecraft<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":836227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[142719,3926],"tags":[142718,5721],"class_list":{"0":"post-836226","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fusion-powered","8":"category-rocket","9":"tag-fusion-powered","10":"tag-rocket"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/836227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}