Robert W. Bussard
Encyclopedia
Robert W. Bussard was an American
physicist
who worked primarily in nuclear fusion
energy
research. He was the recipient of the Schreiber-Spence Achievement Award for STAIF-2004. He was also a fellow of the International Academy of Astronautics
and held a Ph.D. from Princeton University.
designing nuclear thermal rocket
engines. Bussard and R.D. DeLauer wrote two important monographs on nuclear propulsion, Nuclear Rocket Propulsion and Fundamentals of Nuclear Flight.
, an interstellar space
drive powered by hydrogen
fusion using hydrogen collected with a magnetic field
from the interstellar gas
. Due to the presence of high-energy particles throughout space, much of the interstellar hydrogen
exists in an ion
ized state (H II regions) that can be manipulated by magnetic
or electric field
s. Bussard proposed to "scoop" up ionized hydrogen and funnel it into a fusion reactor, using the exhaust from the reactor as a rocket engine.
It appears the energy gain in the reactor must be extremely high for the ramjet to work at all; any hydrogen picked up by the scoop must be sped up to the same speed as the ship in order to provide thrust, and the energy required to do so increases with the ship's speed. Hydrogen itself
does not fuse very well at all (unlike deuterium, which is rare in the interstellar medium), and so cannot be used directly to produce energy, a fact which accounts for the billion-year scale of stellar lifetimes. This problem was solved, in principle, according to Dr. Bussard by use of the stellar CNO cycle
in which carbon is used as a catalyst to burn hydrogen via the strong nuclear reaction
Larry Niven
uses them in his Known Space series to propel interstellar flight. Following a standard hi-tech faster/cheaper/better learning curve, he started with robot probes during the early stages of interstellar colonization and eventually plotted them as affordable to wealthy individuals relocating their families off a too-crowded Earth (in The Ethics of Madness). Niven also employed Bussard Ramjets as the propulsion / stabilizing engine of the Ringworld
(four novels), which were also set in his Known Space
In Paramont Pictures' Star Trek
universe, a variation called the Bussard Hydrogen Collector or Bussard Ramscoop appears as part of the matter
/antimatter
propulsion system that allows Starfleet
ships to travel faster than the speed of light
. The ramscoops attach to the front of the warp nacelles (usually red in the Star Trek: The Next Generation
-era stories), and when the ship's internal supply of deuterium runs low, they collect interstellar hydrogen and convert it to deuterium and anti-deuterium for use as the primary fuel in a starship's warp drive
. The problems of low collection rates and interstellar drag are entirely avoided by the plot device of having the ship travel faster than light. http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Bussard_collector
at the Controlled Thermonuclear Reaction Division of what was then known as the Atomic Energy Commission
. They founded the mainline fusion program for the United States: the Tokamak
. In June 1995, Bussard claimed in a letter to all fusion laboratories, as well as to key members of the US Congress, that he and the other founders of the program supported the Tokamak not out of conviction that it was the best technical approach but rather as a vehicle for generating political support, thereby allowing them to pursue "all the hopeful new things the mainline labs would not try". Bussard's Letter
In a 1998 Analog magazine article, fellow fusion researcher Tom Ligon described an easily-built demonstration fusor system along with some of Bussard's ideas for fusion reactors and incredibly powerful spacecraft propulsion
systems, with which spacecraft could swiftly move throughout the solar system.
, that has a magnetically shielded grid (MaGrid) and built and tested several (15) experimental devices, from 1994 through 2006. The U.S. Navy contract funding that supported the work expired while experiments were still small. However, the final tests of the last device, WB-6, reputedly solved the last remaining physics problem just as the funding expired and the EMC² labs had to be shut down.
Further funding was eventually found, the work continued and the WB-7 prototype was constructed and tested, and the research is ongoing.(http://www.askmar.com/ConferenceNotes/Should%20Google%20Go%20Nuclear.pdf)
. Also, the scaling of power with size goes as the seventh power of the machine radius, while the gain scales as the fifth power, so there is little incentive to build half-scale systems; one might as well build the real thing.
On March 29, 2006, Bussard claimed on the fusor.net internet forum that EMC² had developed an inertial electrostatic confinement
fusion process that was 100,000 times more efficient than previous designs, but that the US Navy budget line item that supported the work was zero-funded in FY2006.
Bussard provided more details of his breakthrough and the circumstances surrounding the end of his Navy funding in a letter to the James Randi Educational Foundation internet forum on June 23.
From October 2, 2006 to October 6, 2006, Bussard presented an informal overview of the previous decade of his work at the 57th International Astronautical Congress. This was the first publication of this work in 11 years, as the U.S. Navy had put an embargo on publications of the research, in 1994.
Dr. Bussard presented further details of his IEC fusion research at a Google Tech Talk on November 9, 2006, of which a video was widely circulated.
Bussard presented more of his thoughts on the potential world impact of fusion power at a Yahoo!
Tech Talk on April 10, 2007.
(The video is only available internally for Yahoo employees.) He also spoke on the internet talk radio show The Space Show on May 8, 2007.
He founded a non-profit organization to solicit tax-deductible donations to restart the work in 2007. The organization is EMC2 Fusion Development Corporation, web site is EMC2Fusion.org
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
who worked primarily in nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...
energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
research. He was the recipient of the Schreiber-Spence Achievement Award for STAIF-2004. He was also a fellow of the International Academy of Astronautics
International Academy of Astronautics
The International Academy of Astronautics is an international community of experts committed to expanding the frontiers of space. It is a non-governmental organisation established in Stockholm on August 16, 1960....
and held a Ph.D. from Princeton University.
Kiwi (Rover-A)
In June, 1955 Bussard moved to Los Alamos and joined the Nuclear Propulsion Division's Project RoverProject Rover
Project Rover was an American project to develop a nuclear thermal rocket. The program ran at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory from 1955 through 1972 and involved the Atomic Energy Commission, and NASA. The project was managed by the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office.Nuclear reactors for the...
designing nuclear thermal rocket
Nuclear thermal rocket
In a nuclear thermal rocket a working fluid, usually liquid hydrogen, is heated to a high temperature in a nuclear reactor, and then expands through a rocket nozzle to create thrust. In this kind of thermal rocket, the nuclear reactor's energy replaces the chemical energy of the propellant's...
engines. Bussard and R.D. DeLauer wrote two important monographs on nuclear propulsion, Nuclear Rocket Propulsion and Fundamentals of Nuclear Flight.
Bussard ramjet
In 1960, Bussard conceived of the Bussard ramjetBussard ramjet
The Bussard ramjet is a theoretical method of spacecraft propulsion proposed in 1960 by the physicist Robert W. Bussard, popularized by Larry Niven in his Known Space series of books, and referred to by Carl Sagan in the television series and book Cosmos....
, an interstellar space
Outer space
Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
drive powered by hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
fusion using hydrogen collected with a magnetic field
Magnetic field
A magnetic field is a mathematical description of the magnetic influence of electric currents and magnetic materials. The magnetic field at any given point is specified by both a direction and a magnitude ; as such it is a vector field.Technically, a magnetic field is a pseudo vector;...
from the interstellar gas
Gas
Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
. Due to the presence of high-energy particles throughout space, much of the interstellar hydrogen
Interstellar medium
In astronomy, the interstellar medium is the matter that exists in the space between the star systems in a galaxy. This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular form, dust, and cosmic rays. It fills interstellar space and blends smoothly into the surrounding intergalactic space...
exists in an ion
Ion
An ion is an atom or molecule in which the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons, giving it a net positive or negative electrical charge. The name was given by physicist Michael Faraday for the substances that allow a current to pass between electrodes in a...
ized state (H II regions) that can be manipulated by magnetic
Magnetic field
A magnetic field is a mathematical description of the magnetic influence of electric currents and magnetic materials. The magnetic field at any given point is specified by both a direction and a magnitude ; as such it is a vector field.Technically, a magnetic field is a pseudo vector;...
or electric field
Electric field
In physics, an electric field surrounds electrically charged particles and time-varying magnetic fields. The electric field depicts the force exerted on other electrically charged objects by the electrically charged particle the field is surrounding...
s. Bussard proposed to "scoop" up ionized hydrogen and funnel it into a fusion reactor, using the exhaust from the reactor as a rocket engine.
It appears the energy gain in the reactor must be extremely high for the ramjet to work at all; any hydrogen picked up by the scoop must be sped up to the same speed as the ship in order to provide thrust, and the energy required to do so increases with the ship's speed. Hydrogen itself
Proton-proton chain reaction
The proton–proton chain reaction is one of several fusion reactions by which stars convert hydrogen to helium, the primary alternative being the CNO cycle. The proton–proton chain dominates in stars the size of the Sun or smaller....
does not fuse very well at all (unlike deuterium, which is rare in the interstellar medium), and so cannot be used directly to produce energy, a fact which accounts for the billion-year scale of stellar lifetimes. This problem was solved, in principle, according to Dr. Bussard by use of the stellar CNO cycle
CNO cycle
The CNO cycle is one of two sets of fusion reactions by which stars convert hydrogen to helium, the other being the proton–proton chain. Unlike the proton–proton chain reaction, the CNO cycle is a catalytic cycle. Theoretical models show that the CNO cycle is the dominant source of energy in stars...
in which carbon is used as a catalyst to burn hydrogen via the strong nuclear reaction
In science fiction
Bussard Ramjets are common plot devices in science fiction.Larry Niven
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
uses them in his Known Space series to propel interstellar flight. Following a standard hi-tech faster/cheaper/better learning curve, he started with robot probes during the early stages of interstellar colonization and eventually plotted them as affordable to wealthy individuals relocating their families off a too-crowded Earth (in The Ethics of Madness). Niven also employed Bussard Ramjets as the propulsion / stabilizing engine of the Ringworld
Ringworld
Ringworld is a Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award-winning 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe and considered a classic of science fiction literature. It is followed by three sequels, and preceded by four prequels, and ties into numerous other books set in Known Space...
(four novels), which were also set in his Known Space
In Paramont Pictures' Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
universe, a variation called the Bussard Hydrogen Collector or Bussard Ramscoop appears as part of the matter
Deuterium
Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is one of two stable isotopes of hydrogen. It has a natural abundance in Earth's oceans of about one atom in of hydrogen . Deuterium accounts for approximately 0.0156% of all naturally occurring hydrogen in Earth's oceans, while the most common isotope ...
/antimatter
Antimatter
In particle physics, antimatter is the extension of the concept of the antiparticle to matter, where antimatter is composed of antiparticles in the same way that normal matter is composed of particles...
propulsion system that allows Starfleet
Starfleet
In the fictional universe of Star Trek, Starfleet or the Federation Starfleet is the deep-space exploratory, peacekeeping and military service maintained by the United Federation of Planets . It is the principal means by which the Federation conducts its exploration, defense, diplomacy and research...
ships to travel faster than the speed of light
Faster-than-light
Faster-than-light communications and travel refer to the propagation of information or matter faster than the speed of light....
. The ramscoops attach to the front of the warp nacelles (usually red in the Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
-era stories), and when the ship's internal supply of deuterium runs low, they collect interstellar hydrogen and convert it to deuterium and anti-deuterium for use as the primary fuel in a starship's warp drive
Warp drive (Star Trek)
Warp drive is a faster-than-light propulsion system in the setting of many science fiction works, most notably Star Trek. A spacecraft equipped with a warp drive may travel at velocities greater than that of light by many orders of magnitude, while circumventing the relativistic problem of time...
. The problems of low collection rates and interstellar drag are entirely avoided by the plot device of having the ship travel faster than light. http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Bussard_collector
Atomic Energy Commission
In the early 1970s Dr. Bussard became Assistant Director under Director Robert HirschRobert L. Hirsch
Robert L. Hirsch is a former senior energy program adviser for Science Applications International Corporation and is a Senior Energy Advisor at MISI and a consultant in energy, technology, and management. His primary experience is in research, development, and commercial applications...
at the Controlled Thermonuclear Reaction Division of what was then known as the Atomic Energy Commission
United States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...
. They founded the mainline fusion program for the United States: the Tokamak
Tokamak
A tokamak is a device using a magnetic field to confine a plasma in the shape of a torus . Achieving a stable plasma equilibrium requires magnetic field lines that move around the torus in a helical shape...
. In June 1995, Bussard claimed in a letter to all fusion laboratories, as well as to key members of the US Congress, that he and the other founders of the program supported the Tokamak not out of conviction that it was the best technical approach but rather as a vehicle for generating political support, thereby allowing them to pursue "all the hopeful new things the mainline labs would not try". Bussard's Letter
In a 1998 Analog magazine article, fellow fusion researcher Tom Ligon described an easily-built demonstration fusor system along with some of Bussard's ideas for fusion reactors and incredibly powerful spacecraft propulsion
Spacecraft propulsion
Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to accelerate spacecraft and artificial satellites. There are many different methods. Each method has drawbacks and advantages, and spacecraft propulsion is an active area of research. However, most spacecraft today are propelled by forcing a gas from the...
systems, with which spacecraft could swiftly move throughout the solar system.
The Polywell
Bussard worked on a promising new type of IEC fusor, called the PolywellPolywell
A polywell device is a type of fusion reactor that was originated by Robert Bussard under a U.S. Navy research contract. It traps electrons in a magnetic confinement inside its hollow center. The negatively charged electrons then accelerate positively charged ions for the purpose of achieving...
, that has a magnetically shielded grid (MaGrid) and built and tested several (15) experimental devices, from 1994 through 2006. The U.S. Navy contract funding that supported the work expired while experiments were still small. However, the final tests of the last device, WB-6, reputedly solved the last remaining physics problem just as the funding expired and the EMC² labs had to be shut down.
Further funding was eventually found, the work continued and the WB-7 prototype was constructed and tested, and the research is ongoing.(http://www.askmar.com/ConferenceNotes/Should%20Google%20Go%20Nuclear.pdf)
Appeal for funding
During 2006 and 2007, Bussard sought the large-scale funding necessary to design and construct a full-scale Polywell fusion power plant. His fusor design is feasible enough, he asserted, to render unnecessary the construction of larger and larger test models still too small to achieve break-evenFusion energy gain factor
The fusion energy gain factor, usually expressed with the symbol Q, is the ratio of fusion power produced in a nuclear fusion reactor to the power required to maintain the plasma in steady state. The condition of Q = 1 is referred to as breakeven.In a fusion power reactor a plasma must be...
. Also, the scaling of power with size goes as the seventh power of the machine radius, while the gain scales as the fifth power, so there is little incentive to build half-scale systems; one might as well build the real thing.
On March 29, 2006, Bussard claimed on the fusor.net internet forum that EMC² had developed an inertial electrostatic confinement
Inertial electrostatic confinement
Inertial electrostatic confinement is a concept for retaining a plasma using an electrostatic field. The field accelerates charged particles radially inward, usually in a spherical but sometimes in a cylindrical geometry. Ions can be confined with IEC in order to achieve controlled nuclear fusion...
fusion process that was 100,000 times more efficient than previous designs, but that the US Navy budget line item that supported the work was zero-funded in FY2006.
Bussard provided more details of his breakthrough and the circumstances surrounding the end of his Navy funding in a letter to the James Randi Educational Foundation internet forum on June 23.
From October 2, 2006 to October 6, 2006, Bussard presented an informal overview of the previous decade of his work at the 57th International Astronautical Congress. This was the first publication of this work in 11 years, as the U.S. Navy had put an embargo on publications of the research, in 1994.
Dr. Bussard presented further details of his IEC fusion research at a Google Tech Talk on November 9, 2006, of which a video was widely circulated.
Bussard presented more of his thoughts on the potential world impact of fusion power at a Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
Tech Talk on April 10, 2007.
(The video is only available internally for Yahoo employees.) He also spoke on the internet talk radio show The Space Show on May 8, 2007.
He founded a non-profit organization to solicit tax-deductible donations to restart the work in 2007. The organization is EMC2 Fusion Development Corporation, web site is EMC2Fusion.org
See also
- TokamakTokamakA tokamak is a device using a magnetic field to confine a plasma in the shape of a torus . Achieving a stable plasma equilibrium requires magnetic field lines that move around the torus in a helical shape...
- Bussard ramjetBussard ramjetThe Bussard ramjet is a theoretical method of spacecraft propulsion proposed in 1960 by the physicist Robert W. Bussard, popularized by Larry Niven in his Known Space series of books, and referred to by Carl Sagan in the television series and book Cosmos....
- PolywellPolywellA polywell device is a type of fusion reactor that was originated by Robert Bussard under a U.S. Navy research contract. It traps electrons in a magnetic confinement inside its hollow center. The negatively charged electrons then accelerate positively charged ions for the purpose of achieving...
- Farnsworth FusorFusorThe Farnsworth–Hirsch fusor, or simply fusor, is an apparatus designed by Philo T. Farnsworth to create nuclear fusion. It has also been developed in various incarnations by researchers including Elmore, Tuck, and Watson, and more recently by George H. Miley and Robert W. Bussard...
- IECInertial electrostatic confinementInertial electrostatic confinement is a concept for retaining a plasma using an electrostatic field. The field accelerates charged particles radially inward, usually in a spherical but sometimes in a cylindrical geometry. Ions can be confined with IEC in order to achieve controlled nuclear fusion...
- Project RoverProject RoverProject Rover was an American project to develop a nuclear thermal rocket. The program ran at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory from 1955 through 1972 and involved the Atomic Energy Commission, and NASA. The project was managed by the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office.Nuclear reactors for the...
- Nuclear propulsionNuclear propulsionNuclear propulsion includes a wide variety of propulsion methods that fulfil the promise of the Atomic Age by using some form of nuclear reaction as their primary power source.- Surface ships and submarines :...
External links
- Inertial-Electrodynamic Fusion (IEF) Device - Energy/Matter Conversion Corporation (EMC2)
- Bussard's website, asking for donations to fund further research
- American Scientist article mentioning the founding of EMC2
- Economic Impact of Cheap Fusion - 3 minutes of excerpts from Bussard's Google Tech Talk Video
- Bussard documents and sources
- "Robert Bussard Interview," by K.C. Cole, Omni Magazine, January 1981
- Chapter 7 (The Entrepreneurs) from "The Man-Made Sun — The Quest for Fusion Power," by Thomas A. Heppenheimer, 1984
- Latest Fusion developments (WB-7 - June 2008) based on the work of Dr. Robert Bussard