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Novel propulsion systems are one of the most important ways to push space exploration forward \u2013 literally. Traditional propulsion systems, like chemical rockets, are good at getting spacecraft out of gravity wells but not so great at traveling in free space. More modern systems, like electric propulsion, are better at providing long-term propulsion but are very slow. Others haven\u2019t even made it to space, like nuclear thermal rockets. But there\u2019s one type that could trump them all \u2013 fusion propulsion. It has the benefit of significant thrust and excellent fuel efficiency and could open up the whole solar system in ways other systems could only dream of. One company, Helicity Space, thinks they are on the path to developing a working version of just such a fusion propulsion system, and they just received a NASA Institute of Advanced Concepts (NIAC) grant to continue its development.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The NIAC grant itself focuses on exploring the heliosphere\u2014an area surrounding the Sun (including on top of it) that our star influences. It is huge in terms of the amount of space covered and not well understood because, typically, missions only stay in the plane of the ecliptic, and if they go far enough to reach the outer stretches of the heliosphere, it is only after decades of travel, like the Voyager space probes.<\/p>\n Helicity proposes using fusion rockets to send a constellation of spacecraft to all parts of the heliosphere with sensors to detect things such as plasma properties, the amount of energetic particles, and the amount of dust in a given region. This constellation could provide heliophysics with a much more complete picture of what the heliosphere looks like.<\/p>\n \n