Mini-Mag Orion

The original Orion project was headed by Ted Taylor from General Atomics, who together with the famous physicist Freeman Dyson suggested ejecting nuclear explosives behind a spacecraft in order to propel it forward. The Mini-Mag system uses a magnetic field in order to trigger an explosion of compressed material in the form of small pellets weighing several grams. This explosion, although being significantly weaker than a nuclear explosion, creates plasma that is directed through a magnetic nozzle to generate vehicle thrust. The proposed technology enables the production of thrust at high efficiency, hopefully allowing drastic reduction of interplanetary travel time. According to calculations performed by AS&T, this type of propulsion system can produce the same thrust as the Space Shuttle Main Engine, with 50 times more efficiency.
Due to the magnetic compression thrust technology, spacecrafts could be smaller and less heavy. The spacecraft itself will only have to carry a relatively small amount of fissionable material as fuel and will be able to reach speeds of approximately 10% of the speed of light. Dr. Dana Andrews, AS&T Chief Technology Officer and Mini-Mag Orion inventor, and Roger Lenard from the Sandia National Laboratories, have published a paper describing their research into the Mini-Mag Orion concept in the Acta Astronautica – Journal of the International Academy of Astronautics.

TIME.com: Inventions of the Year -- The best inventions of 2001 Senator John Glenn is not the only civilian who would enjoy rocketing into space, but chances are the rest of us won¹t be hitching a ride on a space shuttle anytime soon. We¹ll have to wait until private companies can take us there. Jeff Greason of Mojave, Calif., has done his part by creating the first low-cost, reusable rocket engines. Greason¹s EZ-Rocket prototype, which took flight this fall, is powered by twin engines that burn isopropyl alcohol and liquid oxygen to generate 400 lbs. of thrust. Greason¹s engines should be able to carry passengers 65 miles above the earth‹too low to go into orbit but high enough to give space tourists a spectacular view of the planet. Greason estimates that planes powered by his engines could someday cost as little as $900 per flight to operate. The planes would cost as much as a Lear jet ($10 million), but Greason figures that¹s a bargain considering that Lear jets can¹t fly high enough and the cheapest boosters start at $100 million.

Availability: Opened Sept. 2001
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