Pulsar Fusion Plans Orbital Fusion Tests by 2027

Pulsar Fusion will make a linear nuclear fusion rocket propulsion system. They will heat hydrogen plasma with microwaves to create fusion propulsion. They will perform laboratory tests next year and in 2025 and then have an orbital test within three years.

Pulsar recently partnered with aerospace R&D company Princeton Satellite Systems (PSS) for a study that will use AI to model the behavior of hot plasma in a fusion rocket engine. It has also announced that it has begun constructing an eight-meter fusion reaction chamber in the UK.

Its goal is to begin firing that chamber in 2025 and achieving fusion temperatures by 2027. The next step after that would be conducting a test firing in orbit — proving that a fusion rocket could potentially power the next era of space exploration.

The Direct Fusion Drive is a revolutionary steady state fusion propulsion concept, based on a compact fusion reactor. It will provide power of the order of units of MW, providing both thrust of the order of ten to hundreds of Newtons with specific impulses between 10,000 – 15,000 seconds and auxiliary power to the space system.

Pulsar is developing non-fusion products that could bring in revenue. They are working on a Hall-effect electric thruster for spacecraft and a second-stage hybrid rocket engine. Pulsar Fusion is partnering with the University of Michigan to research electric Hall-effect thruster tech. The UK Space Agency is funding the collaboration.

Pulsar Fusion is creating fusion rocket able to move astronauts at 500,000 mph which is twenty times faster than the 24,791 mph speed of fastest a crewed rocket has ever flown. The company has raised over $133 million in funding across 19 funding rounds with 65 investors.