Startup Says Its Nuclear Fusion Rocket Could Cut Time to Mars in Half

A British startup called Pulsar Fusion has come up with a wild new concept for a nuclear fusion-powered space rocket that, it claims, could significantly cut down the time it takes to travel to Mars in half. As CNN reports, the UK Space Agency-funded company's Sunbird rocket harnesses the power of nuclear fusion, the same process that powers stars, as a form of propulsion. "It’s very unnatural to do fusion on Earth," Pulsar founder and CEO Richard Dinan told CNN. "Fusion doesn’t want to work in an atmosphere. Space is a far more logical, sensible place to do fusion, because that’s where it wants to happen anyway." It's important to note that the propulsion device is still almost entirely theoretical. But Pulsar sees potential. The firm is hoping to achieve fusion in orbit for the first time in 2027, a moonshot plan that could put far-flung destinations in our solar system within much easier reach — if everything goes perfectly according to plan, at least. Instead of splitting atom ... Read full article.