The Bussard ramjet is one of the most famous of science fiction. Aappears in numerous science fiction novels as Number Zero and is even mentioned in Star Trek. Unfortunately, a recent study confirms that it is not feasible even with the most recent modifications.
If you remember our review of the most important space thrusters, you will know that the ramjet Bussard is nothing more than the space version of a ramjet, which is an atmospheric propellant that uses the aircraft’s own speed to compress the air that enters the engines. The propellantAs it were, it is fed by the air itself, although it needs an auxiliary motor with which to reach the appropriate speed at which to start operating.
In space there is no air, but there is the odd ionized hydrogen atom. In 1960, etook hydrogen the nuclear physicist estadounidense Robert Bussard a theoryzar about a possible engine that would capture that hydrogen and compress it to power a fusion propellant capable of reaching speeds much higher than those of current space propellants.
The Bussard or Bussard Ramjet Propeller was born. The problem with this space ramjet is that in the interstellar void there is so little hydrogen that it is estimated that the “strainer” needed to collect it It should be the size of a dwarf planet (thousands of kilometers in diameter). Recent calculations by aerospace engineer Robert Zubrin also suggest that even with the little matter in space, the resistance of the particles against an umbrella of this size would nullify the drive of the fusion engine.
In 1969, another researcher named John F. Fishback proposed Solve the problem of the front umbrella using magnets that generate a magnetic field capable of capturing hydrogen as an invisible network without resorting to enormous physical structures. Fishback’s solution is precisely what they have tried to prove Peter Schattschneider y Albert Jackson, two researchers who are experts precisely in calculating electromagnetic fields for electron microscopy.
The new study from Schattschneider y Jackson just been published in Acta Astronautica and brings bad news for those who dreamed of huge spaceships with umbrellas capable of capturing hydrogen to reach relativistic speeds. The Fishback equations are not correct in the sense that even with the idea of magnetic fields, the size of the structures necessary to generate those fields is simply not feasible.
The authors have started from a proFusion pulser capable of twice the speed of the Space Shuttle. Even with such a modest speed, The magnetic coils needed to collect enough hydrogen should be 4,000km in diameter, which is definitely not practical to build or maintain.[[Science Direct via Ars Technica]
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