Antimatter-Driven Fusion Propulsion Scheme for Solar System Exploration

The potential use of the proton-antiproton annihilation reaction as a driver for an inertially confined, magnetically insulated fusion plasma with application to advanced space propulsion is examined. The fusion scheme utilized is the magnetically insulated inertial confinement fusion (MICF) concept which combines the favorable aspects of both inertial and magnetic fusions into one. Using an appropriate set of governing equations for the fusion plasma, along with those that detail the annihilation reactions and the energy deposition by the annihilation products including contributions from muon catalysis, we calculate the energy gain for the system as well as the amount of antihydrogen needed to ignite the plasma. We find about 13 ng of antihydrogen are needed to supply a megajoule of energy to the plasma, and about 10 g will be needed for a 220-mT space vehicle to make a one-way trip to Mars in about 2 months.