The nuclear fusion rocket that could take humans to Mars faster | BBC News

I don't know, I'm going to need more than a blinking blue light before I get excited

When I was in grammar school, back in 1976 to be precise, my classmates and I theorized a interstellar propulsion system like this, which would hoover up space junk to throw into its fusion engines as it accelerated toward a significant portion of light speed.

This is very sus, where is the fusion and what is the proposed fuel that you can obtain while in space? Their website says "Self-sustaining fuel supply" but if something's being ejected from the thrust nozzle then you're gonna need to replace that something!

Kerr Starmer produces enough wind and hot air to send most rockets to the moon 😂

I noticed a "To Let" sign at the entrance of the warehouse in the video. Is this a real company, or is it just using the space for sponsorship or filming?

i hope this tech will make oil obsolete .

The British Space Programme. It's keeping the seat warm until NASA and MUSQ take over

They should build The Tipler Cylinder one day.

The reactor/engine has to achieve a temperature of 300 million degrees C for fusion to start working. So yeah, good luck finding a power source for such a thing on a spaceship.

There's 5 minutes I'll never get back. Hint, generating plasma is not fusion.

I worked at Culham Science Centre on the initial development of JET (Joint European Tokamak), the EU nuclear fusion reactor prototype around 1977, and we were predicting getting nuclear fusion reactors on the national grid by 2000. But every 10 years further on, the date has gone back another 15 or 20 years, so when someone suggests 2040 I must say I'm a bit sceptical. It will happen one day, but there's still lots to overcome, lots to learn yet. But landing on Mars? You'd need to take off with the fuel to power through the earth's atmosphere, the deuterium & triteum for the inter-planatery nuclear fusion phase and the the fuel to get down through the martian atmosphere to the surface. I'm not sure the maths works on that, but we'll see. However, the human race would be better served by getting small huclear fusion power plants working on earth as a step towards decarbonisation of energy production, before worrying about space. What's the good of space exploration if there's nobody left alive on earth to see the stars?

Finally nuclear i have been barking for so long use nuclear to fly not kill

We invent, then a venture capitalist from the states would acquire. Then it becomes an American company.

Nuclear as in nuke-le-ar.

All the rocket scientists in the comment section.😂😂

I'm sorry, am I missing something here? Headline and intro are saying 'nuclear fusion rocket', which would be sensational. But then we're shown something similar to already existing ion-propulsion, and we see plasma demonstrated. Plasma and nuclear fusion aren't the same.

Nucular? I think it’s nuclear

It's a sad day when I hear a BBC narrator say "nu-cu-lear"

Fun fact: you can make plasma at home. Cut a grape in half and heat it in your microwave. This will create a brief flare of plasma.

Just another 20 years! Always another 20 years...