Scientists developing pulsed nuclear fusion system for distant missions (Phys.org) -- The ticket to Mars and beyond may be a series of nuclear slapshots that use magnetic pulses to slam nuclei into each other inside hockey pucks made of a special, lightweight salt.
A physics team from The University of Alabama in Huntsville's Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering soon will take delivery of a specialized system to see if they can "Z-pinch" a tiny bit of that salt into the heart of a star. We are trying to develop a small, lightweight pulsed nuclear fusion system for deep space missions, explained Dr. Jason Cassibry, an associate professor of engineering at UAHuntsville. If this works we could reach Mars in six to eight weeks instead of six to eight months...... http://phys.org/news/2012-06-scientists-pulsed-nuclear-fusion-distant.html A more detailed report-- "Design of Z-pinch and Dense Plasma Focus Powered Vehicles" http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20110008825_2011009235.pdf
