Design study of the fusion rocket engine for a space cargo ship to mars or order planets

Basic nuclear data for a design concept with inertial fusion energy propulsion for manned or heavy cargo deep space missions beyond earth orbit have been evaluated. As a critical issue of this design, the nuclear heating of the super conducting magnet coils is investigated. The neutron and y-ray penetration into the coils is calculated with the help of the SN methods with a high angular resolution in (r-z) geometry in S16P3 approximation by dividing the solid space angle in 160 sectors. Total peak nuclear heat generation density in the coils is calculated as 94. 206 uW/cm3 by a fusion power of 35 000 M W. Peak neutron heating density is 45. 009 uW/cm3 and peak y-ray heating density is 52. 454 uW/cm3 (on a different point). However, volume averaged heat generation in the coils is much lower, namely 2. 735, 9. 857 and 12. 593 uW/cm3 for neutron, y-ray and total nuclear heating, respectively. The investigations have shown that the magnet heating remains below the design limit of the super conducting coils of present day technology for a fusion power generation up to 35 000 MW. Science code Key Words Page number Adviser 625. 05. 05 Fusion, Nuclear Heating, Space Propulsion 94