We received notice today, March 31, 2017, that our NASA NIAC Phase II proposal was selected for award! We will be able to continue working on the Direct Fusion Drive with PPPL for two more years. Hooray! Dr. Joseph Minervini … Continue reading
NASA NIAC Phase II selected!
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DFD paper accepted for Workshop of Interstellar Flight
Our paper “Direct Fusion Drive for Interstellar Exploration” has been accepted for the Workshop of Interstellar Flight that will be held at CUNY City Tech, 13-15 June 2017! The workshop is organized by the Institute for Interstellar Studies and City Tech’s Physics Department and Center … Continue reading
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Dawn of Private Space Science 2017
Mike Paluszek gave a talk on Saturday, June 3, 2017 Direct Fusion Drive – A Small Nuclear Fusion Rocket Engine for In-Space Propulsion at Columbia University as part of the conference Dawn of Private Space Science 2017. You can see the … Continue reading
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Princeton Satellite Systems Selected for Two NASA STTRs
We have been selected for two NASA STTRs on their new topic, T2.01-9960, Advanced Nuclear Propulsion! Our research institution partner is Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Our proposals were featured in NASA’s official press release! Here is a quote: High temperature superconducting coils … Continue reading
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Foundations of Interstellar Studies Workshop
Dr. Sam Cohen and I had a good time at the Foundations of Interstellar Studies Workshop this week in NY! While we were only able to stay for the first day on “Energetic Reaction Engines”, there were many thoughtful discussions … Continue reading
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Asteroid Day
June 30 is Asteroid Day. Asteroid Day is a reminder that we need to protect the Earth from asteroids. We need both an early warning system and a means for deflecting asteroids. The B612 Foundation is working on an early … Continue reading
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The 2017 Edition of Princeton Satellite Systems’ MATLAB Toolboxes is Now Available!
Version 2017.1 of Princeton Satellite Systems MATLAB toolbox suite is now available! Over 60 new functions were added and updates to dozens of existing functions were made to improve their performance and expand their applications. In the Aircraft Control Toolbox … Continue reading
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WHYY Radio Story Featuring DFD
WHYY reporter Alan Yu has done a radio show featuring our work for The Pulse, which presents stories of health, science, and innovation. You can read the article and listen to a podcast of the show segment, which features Stephanie, … Continue reading
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Sun Sensor Design Project
Hello! My name is Anna Cruz and I am Mechanical Engineering major and rising sophomore at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). This summer I was given the opportunity to work at Princeton Satellite Systems (PSS) as their engineering intern. … Continue reading
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AIAA Space Forum paper on Pluto mission is live
Sadly, the AIAA Space Forum in Orlando, FL was canceled due to hurricane Irma. So, we didn’t get to present our paper on our DFD mission to Pluto. AIAA has, however, published all the forum papers and is providing free … Continue reading
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A Great Quote!
For everyone doing cutting edge work, here is a great quote from a pioneer in rotary wing aircraft: Every very radical research needs an eccentric person who, by a certain amount of freedom from convention is not too afraid to go … Continue reading
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PRISMS Secondary School Student Builds a Sun Sensor
The Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science is a private secondary school in Princeton New Jersey. http://www.prismsus.org One of their students, Savva Morozov, undertook a project to build a miniature 2-axis sun sensor for a CubeSat. Here is his … Continue reading
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2017 NIAC Symposium Talk: “Fusion-Enabled Pluto Orbiter and Lander”
You can view Stephanie Thomas’ talk from the 2017 NIAC symposium, “Fusion-Enabled Pluto Orbiter and Lander,” on NASA’s livestream link: Her talk starts at timestamp 26:15 of the video. Her poster is linked below: NIAC Phase II Poster [PDF]
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Rendezvous with 1I/’Oumuamua
An interstellar asteroid, 1I/’Oumuamua, was discovered on a highly hyperbolic orbit by Robert Weryk on October 19, 2017 moving with a speed of 26.32 km/s. It appears to come from the direction of the star Vega in the constellation Lyra. It would be … Continue reading
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Second DFD Patent Awarded
We are pleased to report that an additional patent has been awarded for DFD! US Patent 9,822,769, “Method and Apparatus to Produce High Specific Impulse and Moderate Thrust from a Fusion-Powered Rocket Engine”, was published on Nov. 21, 2017. It’s … Continue reading
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Fusion Power Associates Meeting
I attended the 2017 Fusion Power Associates meeting in Washington, D.C. on December 6 and 7. Fusion Power Associates is a non-profit, tax-exempt research and educational foundation, providing timely information on the status of fusion development and other applications of plasma … Continue reading
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Living Universe Documentary
Back in early September, PSS and PPPL were visited by a film crew from Australia. The project? Living Universe: An Interstellar Voyage, which will include a feature documentary, a 4 episode TV miniseries, and a podcast. The documentary touches all … Continue reading
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PFRC Paper Accepted to Physics of Plasmas
Our colleague Eugene Evans of PPPL has had his paper, “Particle-in-cell studies of fast-ion slowing-down rates in cool tenuous magnetized plasma,” accepted for publication in Physics of Plasmas. The article is tentatively scheduled for the April 2018 issue. A quote from … Continue reading
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Landing on the Moon
The first soft moon landings were accomplished in the 1960’s by the Soviet Luna 9 and the U.S. Surveyor Spacecraft. These were followed by the U.S. Lunar Module landings during the Apollo program. The Soviets had their own LK Lander lunar lander for landing … Continue reading
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Inter Ivy Space Coalition Meeting
Marilyn and I attended the first Inter Ivy Space Coalition Inter Ivy Space Coalition meeting at Yale University on April 6 and 7. The meeting was attended by students with an interest in space from the Ivy League schools. Saturday consisted of … Continue reading
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