Prompt fission induced by antiproton annihilation at rest on heavy nuclei

Bocquet, J. P.; Malek, F.; Nifenecker, H.; Rey-Campagnolle, M.; Maurel, Marie‐Christine; Monnand, E.; Perrin, Paul B.; Ristori, C.; Ericsson, Göran; Johansson, T.; Tibell, G.; Polikanov, S.M.; Krogulski, T.; Mougey, J.

doi:10.1007/bf01288467

Cited by 28 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…It represents, in effect, the efficiency of the magnetic field in confining the plasma while simultaneously providing a measure of the power density generated by the reactor. Several studies (Bocquet et al, 1992;Machner et al, 1992) in recent years have shown that "at resf annihilation of antiprotons in U^^^ leads to fission at nearly 100% efficiency. values (-0.90) where no large scale instabilities of any sort that could lead to rapid breakup of the plasma were detected.…”

Section: R=^^-mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent physics studies (Bocquet et al, 1992) have shown that "at resf' armihilation of antiprotons in the uranium isotope U^^^ leads to fission at nearly 100% efficiency. Under these conditions the plasma behaves much like a fluid, and its escape from the mirror is analogous to the flow of a gas into vacuum from a vessel with a hole.…”

Section: Fusion Propulsion Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transportation and Power Requirements for He[sup 3] Mining of the Jovian Planets

Kammash¹,

Tang

2008

AIP Conference Proceedings

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An affordable RBCC-powered 2-stage small orbital payload transportation systems concept based on test-proven hardware AIP Conf. Proc. 420, 999 (1998); 10.1063/1.54906 System/subsystem engineering interface considerations and R&D requirements for IEF/QED engine systems AIP Conf. Abstract.A bi-modal fusion propulsion system that can be used for transportation to and the mining of He^ from the Jovian planets is proposed. It consists of the Gasdynamic Mirror (GDM) fusion reactor which is analyzed for utilization as a propulsion device, as well as for use as a surface power system. The fusion reactions in the device are initiated by the heating provided by the fission fragments and the annihilation products produced by the "at resf annihilation of antiprotons in uranium U^^^ target nuclei. The energetic pions and muons of the antiproton-proton (or neutron) annihilation in the U^^^ nucleus can heat a suitable fusion fuel to several keV temperature during their short lifetime, while the remaining heating to ignition is provided by the fission fragments. We examine the use of such a system to travel to Jupiter, for instance, to mine the He^ which is known to exist to the tune of 350 trillion tons in its atmosphere. Such a rich source of this isotope can readily meet the needs of a fusion-powered global industrial energy consumption estimated at 5400 tons annually, for an indefinite length of time. Although He^ exists to a much lesser degree in the lunar regolith, the power requirements for its extraction, estimated at 270 GJ per kg, may render its economic viability very much in question. It is suggested that mining the planets at a power requirement 30 times less than its lunar counterpart may be more desirable in spite of the distances involved, if a reasonably rapid transportation system can be devised. In its propulsive mode, the GDM device is shown to be capable of traveling to Jupiter and bringing back the annual world need of He^ in about six months. Based on such performance, it is quite reasonable to envision a space tanker employing the proposed propulsion system to fly from Earth to the outer planet of choice, spend a period of time in the planet's atmosphere extracting He^, or loading it from an extractor plant already in place, and then return to Earth with its cargo. It will also be shown that, in its power mode, the GDM system is capable of producing enough electric power to support colonization, and the amount of antiprotons needed will be well within the projected production rate of the next two decades.

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Section: R=^^-mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Fusion Propulsion Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transportation and Power Requirements for He[sup 3] Mining of the Jovian Planets

Kammash¹,

Tang

2008

AIP Conference Proceedings

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“…Under these conditions the plasma behaves much like a fluid (gas in this case), and its escape from the system would be analogous to the flow of a gas into vacuum from a vessel with a hole. The condition for plasma confinement in GDM is given by 9 L R λ << (7) where λ is the collision mean free path, L the length of the plasma, and R the plasma mirror ratio defined by American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics In the above expression, denotes the vacuum mirror ratio, and as mentioned above β denotes the ratio of the plasma pressure to the (vacuum) magnetic field pressure. An expression of λ appropriate for the system under consideration can be written as…”

Section: Figure 2 Muon-boosted Fusion Propulsion Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nuclear fission following the at rest annihilation of antiprotons in heavy nuclei has been demonstrated in uranium and bismuth among others, and measurements have been made of the mass distribution of the fission fragments, as well as the multiplicity of the charged particles that were emitted in the process. It was shown, for example 7 , that in the case of uranium the average masses and kinetic energies of the fission fragments are 212 amu and 160 MeV, respectively. In addition to the fission fragments, the annihilation products, namely the pions, are also ejected in addition to about 20 high energy neutrons.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Muon-Boosted Fusion Propulsion System

Kammash¹,

Tang²

2007

43rd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference &Amp;amp; Exhibit

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Several years ago a great deal of excitement was generated by muon-catalyzed fusion due to the experimentally verified multiplicity-100 per muon-of fusion reactions in deuterium (D) and tritium (T) resulting from this process. This excitement was somewhat tempered, however, in its application to power-producing reactors due to the large amounts of energy expended in the production of muons and the need for the presence of muonproducing accelerators in the proximity of the fusion reactor. It was found that the combination of these factors rendered the power balance for the system unfavorable. These problems can now be significantly alleviated by utilizing the pions that are generated by the "at rest" annihilation of antiprotons in U 238 targets. Upon decay, these pions give rise to the muons needed to catalyze DT fusion reactions, and prior to their decay they, along with the fission fragments, can contribute to additional fusion reactions through the plasma heating they provide. Catalysis takes place because a negative muon, when slowing down, forms a meso atom with tritium, and during a certain time this meso atom collides with a deuterium to form a mesomolecular ion. It takes a very short time, subsequently, for an exothermic fusion reaction to take place. It can be shown that the number of cycles which a muon has time to catalyze is about 100, i.e. a single muon can give rise, during its lifetime, to a hundred fusion reactions releasing about 2 GeV of energy. We apply this to a fusion propulsion system consisting of a Gasdynamic Mirror (GDM) attached to an antiproton trap where "at rest" annihilation of antiprotons on U 238 targets is employed for driving the system. We find for a mission of interest, such as a Mars mission, the number of antiprotons required to achieve the mission is substantially reduced due to muon catalysis.

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“…The vacuum chamber holding the torsion balance, the balance arm holding the uranium foil, and the antiproton beam optics have been constructed through NIAC support. It is well established that antiprotons induce fission when annihilating against heavy nuclei such as uranium (Bocquet, 1992). Because on average one fission fragment propagates into the sail while the other has a trajectory away from the sail, the absorption of the momentum of the ingoing fragment transfers momentum to the sail, and hence the spacecraft.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deceleration of Antiprotons in Support of Antiproton Storage/Utilization Research

Howe¹,

Jackson²,

Pearson³

et al. 2005

AIP Conference Proceedings

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Antimatter has the highest energy density known to mankind. Many concepts have been studied that use antimatter for propulsion. All of these concepts require the development of high density storage. Hbar Technologies, under contract with the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, has undertaken the first step toward development of high density storage. Demonstration of the ability to store antiprotons in a Penning Trap provides the technology to pursue research in alternative storage methods that may lead to eventually to high density concepts. Hbar Technologies has undertaken research activity on the detailed design and operations required to decelerate and redirect the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) antiproton beam to lay the groundwork for a source of low energy antiprotons. We have performed a detailed assessment of an antiproton deceleration scheme using the FNAL Main Injector, outlining the requirements to significantly and efficiently lower the energy of antiprotons. This task shall require a combination of: theoretical/computation simulations, development of specialized accelerator controls programming, modification of specific Main Injector hardware, and experimental testing of the modified system. Testing shall be performed to characterize the system with a goal of reducing the beam momentum from 8.9 GeV/c to a level of 1 GeV/c or less. We have designed an antiproton degrader system that will integrate with the FNAL decelerated/transferred beam. The degrader shall be designed to maximize the number of low energy antiprotons with a beam spot sized for acceptance by the Mark I test hardware.

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Prompt fission induced by antiproton annihilation at rest on heavy nuclei

Cited by 28 publications

References 14 publications

Transportation and Power Requirements for He[sup 3] Mining of the Jovian Planets

Transportation and Power Requirements for He[sup 3] Mining of the Jovian Planets

Muon-Boosted Fusion Propulsion System

Deceleration of Antiprotons in Support of Antiproton Storage/Utilization Research

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