Visualizing Fusion Pulse Propulsion : Animation : Discovery News

Discovery News > Space News > Visualizing Fusion Pulse Propulsion : Animation

For more information about this propulsion technique, read the accompanying Discovery News guest article by Project Icarus co-founder Richard Obousy: "Using Fusion to Propel an Interstellar Probe"

April 5, 2011 -- This animation, created by space artist Adrian Mann, visualizes how fusion pulse propulsion could be used to power interstellar vehicles across the huge distances between the stars.

The engine shown here is that of the Project Daedalus starship concept from the 1970s. The Project Icarus concept, headed by the Tau Zero Foundation and the British Interstellar Society, is an ambitious five-year study into an interstellar probe, building on the work of Project Daedalus.

WIDE ANGLE: Project Icarus: Reaching for Interstellar Space

--Ian O'Neill

Animation credit: Adrian Mann.