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Papers by Royce Jones

GEO PowerSat with LEO retransmission

Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP) shows promising advantages as an additional energy source to compl... more Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP) shows promising advantages as an additional energy source to complement terrestrial renewable energies in our journey towards decarbonization. SBSP has the potential to revolutionize the energy landscape. However, it has a major problem-Mass. Mass to orbit is the single largest problem faced by current SBSP concepts. Despite lower space launch costs, mass to orbit requirements are still very substantial. This paper conceptually investigates a 220mmWave, 1 GW power transmission from GEO to relay satellites located in a 2000km equatorial orbit where the energy is captured and then retransmitted to a rectenna on the Earth's surface. The 220mmWave space to space transmission allows for an order of magnitude reduction in PowerSat transmitter size and mass, thereby reducing launch costs. It also allows for a small relay satellite (RelaySat) rectenna.

Are we there yet?, 2024

To mitigate deleterious effects on the global environment changes in energy resource use on a sig... more To mitigate deleterious effects on the global environment changes in energy resource use on a significant scale will have to take place over several decades to make the transition to inexhaustible and renewable energy sources on a global scale. Because the time scale required for potential measures to mitigate global ecological deterioration and the effects of global warming are so protracted, it is urgent to start developing and selecting promising options now to sustain global economic growth without creating irreversible damage to the ecology."(1) "One alternative technology for energy production is that of space-based solar power. Sunlight is converted in space to power, and this is then beamed back to a receiving point on the surface of the Earth. This could give, in principle, an inexhaustable source of clean safe energy. Previous studies have shown, although admittedly using simple models, that the use of space for power and resources can eliminate all restrictions and limits to growth. (2) There have been two recent studies on SBSP. The NASA study https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/otps-sbsp-report-final-tagged-approved-1-8-24-tagged-v2.pdf and the European study https://nebula.esa.int/content/pre-phase-system-study-commercial-scale-spacebased-solar-power-sbsp-system-terrestrial-0.

Online Journal of Space Communication, 2021

Starship, 2021

A short paper on Starship propulsion using a unique two-stage propulsion concept.

Most fission propulsion concepts use energy from a fission reactor to heat a propellant working f... more Most fission propulsion concepts use energy from a fission reactor to heat a propellant working fluid (e.g., hydrogen) which then expands through a nozzle to produce thrust. Ultimately, engine materials structural temperature limits restrict these systems to specific impulses of less than 7,000 Ibrs/lb. Fission-fragment propulsion involves permitting the energetic fragments produced in the nuclear fission process to directly escape from the reactor; thus, the fission fragments, moving with a velocity of several percent of the speed of light, are the propellant working fluid. Because these fragments are heavily ionized, they can be directed by magnetic fields to produce thrust for propulsion. A specific impulse in excess of 1 million lb,-s/lb, (corresponding to an exhaust velocity of 3% of the speed of light) is possible. Fission-fragment propulsion can be considered for fast planetary missions where high power and high specific impulse are required an interstellar precursor mission or eventually near-star interstellar missions because of its potentially high specific impulse and high specific power. Fission Fragment (FF) Rockets are one of the very few potential options for propelling a Generational Starship. A Generational Starship being a ship that can travel to another star system within a human lifetime. (1) It is an existing technology at the basic level. The prime benefit of an FF rocket is the low mass and very high specific impulse (isp) of the propellant. FF propulsion offers low thrust but an extremely high specific impulse of 1,000,000+ making it ideal for Starship missions that will take decades. However, since the fragments generated move in every possible direction only those moving toward the nozzle can create thrust in current conceptual designs. This cuts the specific impulse (and thrust) in half to 500,000+. ". This paper will discuss a FF Rocket using a small, low cost, electrostatic fusion (Fusor) breeder reactor. The fuel will be Thorium using a Thorium 232 to Uranium 233 transmutation. It will also consider how to improve the system performance by adding Americium 242m to the fuel mix. In references (1) and (2) propellant breeding using breeding reactors on a Starship is discussed. Reference (2) discusses the use of UF6, a waste product of making nuclear fuel for conventional reactors (Uranium 238 – Plutonium 239) and reference (1) discusses the use of Thorium (Thorium 232 – Uranium 233). In reference (1) the use of a fusion reactor for breeding fuel for a FF Rocket is briefly discussed. This paper will take a more detailed look at fusion breeding as a way to eliminate the need to launch highly radioactive elements into space for FF propellant. In reference 3, the use of U235 dusty particles is proposed but requires the transport of large quantities of U235 into space. The FF concept in reference (5) suggests a trip to Alpha Centauri in 100 years would be possible and uses Americium 242m to achieve a small reactor. The fusion bred system would use approximately the same amount of fuel, however, the production of radioactive dusty particles and the need to launch such radioactive material into space will be eliminated by breeding U233 from Thorium in a fusion reactor in-space. The mass of adding the fusion reactor will need to be considered. " A fusion based breeder should also be possible with the benefit of not having to launch a large quantity of radioactive material into space ". (1) It would also consume less radioactive fuel than

The fission-fragment (FF) rocket is a rocket engine design that directly harnesses hot nuclear fi... more The fission-fragment (FF) rocket is a rocket engine design that directly harnesses hot nuclear fission products for thrust, as opposed to using a separate fluid as working mass. The design can, in theory, produce very high specific impulse of 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 while still being well within the abilities of current technologies. There is a lot of interest in FF rockets due to the high specific impulse but there is one major problem with the concept and that problem is the need to launch radioactive propellant mass into space. The potential solution may be a Thorium " breeder " reactor than can produce more radioactive material than it consumes. This potentially could substantially reduce or possibly even eliminate the need to transport radioactive material into space. Although the mass of the fission fragments are very small, the fragments exit at speeds of a few percent the speed of light and are therefore able to generate a significant thrust force. An FF Rocket burning one hundredth of one gram of fuel per second and ejecting those fragments at five percent of the speed of light would still be able to generate a force of 150 newtons and Clark and Sheldon calculate that their dusty plasma rocket would be able to generate a specific impulse (I SP) of 1.5 million seconds (1). Specific impulse is a measure of the efficiency of a rocket engine and compares the force generated with the mass of propellant used per unit time. A FF rocket therefore offers a huge improvement in efficiency over standard chemical rockets and many proposed advanced propulsion systems. In fact, a fission fragment (FF) engine is one of the few concepts potentially capable of supporting generational (within a human life time) interstellar space flight. This paper will discuss a breeding (FF) rocket using Thorium in a " candlestick " reactor. Thorium Thorium is weakly radioactive: all of its known isotopes are unstable. Thorium-232 (232 Th), which has 142 neutrons, is the most stable isotope of thorium and accounts for nearly all natural thorium, with six other natural isotopes occurring only as trace radioisotopes. Thorium has the longest half-life of all the significantly radioactive elements, 14.05 billion years, or about the age of the universe; it decays very slowly through alpha decay to radium-228 (228 Ra), starting a decay chain named the thorium series that ends at stable lead-208 (208 Pb). Thorium is estimated to be about three to four times more abundant than uranium in the Earth's crust, and is chiefly refined from monazite sands as a by-product of extracting rare earth metals. Thorium Reactor Thorium-based nuclear power is nuclear reactor-based, fueled primarily by the nuclear fission of the isotope Uranium-233 produced from the fertile element thorium. A nuclear reactor consumes certain specific fissile isotopes to produce energy. In this paper I am going to discuss the U-233, transmuted from Th-232 scenario as a way to power a starship. In thermal breeder reactors, the fertile isotope 232 Th is bombarded by slow neutrons, undergoing neutron capture to become

ABSTRACT Fission fragment rockets are nuclear reactors configured in such a way that a substantia... more ABSTRACT
Fission fragment rockets are nuclear reactors configured in such a way that a substantial fraction of the fission fragments can escape from the reactor core and become the propellant. Because the power-to-weight ratio for a fission fragment rocket is potentially very high, fission fragment rockets may be unequaled as power sources for deep space or even interstellar missions. Furthermore because fission fragments have very high specific impulse, a fission fragment propelled spacecraft could attain velocities approaching ten percent of speed of light! (4)

The proposed propulsion system is the result of previous independent work on breeding fission fragment rockets by the author. (1, 2) This paper describes a theoretical Plutonium Breeding Fission Fragment (PBFF) Rocket capable of supporting rapid (generational) interstellar space flight. The proposed propulsion system is small yet generates tremendous amounts of energy. A specific impulse (isp) of approximately 500,000 seconds is possible. Using UF6 the Uranium238 would make up 52.12% of the fuel mass and Fluoride would make up 47.88% of the fuel mass. It is assumed that the engine would operate with a 50% efficiency. The propulsion system uses a two-stage breeding reactor with U238F6 fuel and Plutoium239 seed fuel to start the breeding cycle. The first reactor in the two-stage system is a gaseous high pressure reactor and the second reactor is a low pressure plasma gas dynamic mirror (GDM) consisting of a magnetic bottle and magnet nozzle. U238F6 is a waste product of nuclear reactor fuel generation that is widely available. U238F6, while corrosive does not have the radiation problems associate with other potential nuclear fuels as it is a non-fissioning, but fertile material.

Since the UF6 FF rocket uses a plasma instead of dust the fragment loss should be substantially less potentially leading to a higher fuel utilization efficiency. The reason for this is the small size of the Uranium ions compared to the size of the dust particles. This also reduces the thermal energy inside the reactor as more of the energy is carried away which also reduces the temperature and cooling requirements of the shield. The down side it that since the plasma is less dense than the dusty particles it will can make fission more difficult. Also to be considered is neutron and ion collisions with the fluoride in the plasma. (2)

This propulsion concept solves many of the problem of past Fission Fragment Rocket concepts. Rather than using bundles that ablate or dust particles it uses an easily controlled plasma. Additionally, and importantly, it breeds its own nuclear fuel in-space.

A new fission fragment reactor engine concept which has the potential of enabling extremely energ... more A new fission fragment reactor engine concept which has the potential of enabling extremely energetic and ambitious nuclear space propulsion missions is described. Fission fragments (FF) are directly utilized as the propellant in the form of UF6 along with ionized Fluoride by guiding them out of the core using magnetic fields using a gas dynamic mirror (GDM). The concept is referred to as the Uranium Fluoride Fission Fragment Rocket (UFFFR). The very high fission fragment exhaust velocities yield specific impulses of approximately a million seconds while maintaining respectable thrust levels. Specific impulses of this magnitude allow acceleration of significant payload masses to several percent of the velocity of light and enable a variety of interesting missions. It is one of the few propulsion concepts capable of supporting interstellar fight, e.g., payloads to the nearest star Alpha Centauri, in about a forty-fifty years or very rapid solar system transport. The parameters reported in this paper are based on a very preliminary analysis. Considerable trade-off studies will be required to find the optimum system.

A Uranium Fluoride Breeder Fission Fragment Rocket in an interesting concept for both interplanet... more A Uranium Fluoride Breeder Fission Fragment Rocket in an interesting concept for both interplanetary and interstellar space flight and it can be constructed in a few years with an investment of a few billion dollars, using technology that is readily available. This propulsion concept can utilize magnetic control to direct the thrust as in other fission fragment propulsion systems already being researched. Fuel is abundantly available Worldwide in the form of UF6, which is currently considered an expensive waste product. In fact, UF6 is such an expensive storage problem, and potential hazard, they would pay you to take it off their hands. The propulsion system breeds its own fissionable fuel from the UF6. The system can be seeded using a very small nuclear reactor, sub-critical fusion reactor or simply using a 233UF6 gas. By collimating the beam magnetically you can convert nuclear power to thrust directly and efficiently at a delivered specific impulse of 527,000 seconds. Theoretically, heavy fission products traveling at up to 5% of light speed produce thrust at a specific impulse of one million seconds (over 200 times better than electric engines). The fuel can be transported as a solid but transferred as a liquid or gas making in-space refueling simple.

The development of an economically viable space-based solar power (SBSP) system is critical to th... more The development of an economically viable space-based solar power (SBSP) system is critical to the Earth's future and for future space development. PowerSat technology is also critical to supporting sustainable private and government space ventures, including space lift, space exploration and space infrastructure development. Such a system would greatly expand the need for space lift capability from small reusable launch vehicles for SBSP satellite maintenance to large expendable launch vehicles for deploying GW class SBSP satellites into orbit. The technology needed for SBSP is also needed for in-space solar electric transportation systems needed for space colonization as the technology is the same. The hope has been that gradual improvement in photovoltaic or other technologies such as thermal systems would solve the mass to orbit problem for SBSP systems. However, this in itself does not appear sufficient to make SBSP economically viable. This paper presents a new architectural option for SBSP using a Sun-synchronous orbit (SS-O), wireless power transmission (WPT) and a space power relay (SPR). This new concept is called The Space Grid. The Space Grid relies on the use of two separate satellite constellations. The power satellite (PowerSat) constellation is placed in SS-O dusk to dawn orbit at 800km and has access to constant sunlight and is used to produce the power. The Equatorial reflector satellite (ReflectorSat) constellation is in a 4,000km equatorial orbit and is used to distribute the power to the rectenna on the Earth's surface. The power is produced by the PowerSats in SS-O and beamed to the ReflectorSats in equatorial orbit and then bounced to the rectenna on the ground. This combination allows for the production and distribution of power to the Earth's surface without the problems normally associated with non-Geostationary (GEO) PowerSat concepts and without having to place the PowerSats in GEO. The Space Grid reduces the mass of a PowerSat transmitter by approximately 67% by moving it closer then past GEO concepts and allows for higher power levels and therefore much smaller (60%) and less costly rectenna on the ground and reduces the minimum size from 5GW to only 2GW allowing quicker deployment of space energy to solve the Earth's energy problems. WPT transmission could be microwave or laser but for this paper microwave will be used for easier comparison with past concepts.

Drafts by Royce Jones

Space Solar Power Active Relay, 2023

Space Solar Power Active Relay as a cost effective alternative to GEO

This proposal meets the following focus areas.  Next generation Clean and Renewable Energy-CO2 t... more This proposal meets the following focus areas.  Next generation Clean and Renewable Energy-CO2 to Hydrogen  Energy Storage-Mg/CO2 Battery  Carbon Sequestration-sequestration. This proposal is "out-of-the-box", innovative, entrepreneurial, disruptive and addresses the goal of getting to net zero. In fact, it goes beyond net zero to negative carbon. It latches on to current industry activities in carbon capture, providing a more cost-effective alternative to deep well sequestration. It is based on sound science and engineering research and has tangible potential for commercial viability.

Design and Construction of a Fast Generational Starship “On a recent visit to NASA Marshall Space... more Design and Construction of a Fast Generational Starship
“On a recent visit to NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA Glenn Research Center and the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop, I challenged people to refute my controversial (and deliberately provocative) claim that Daedalus is the only starship design in history. NASA appeared to agree with me. This is an astonishing revelation and I find it intriguing that people are prepared to pronounce interstellar flight impossible when we have only attempted one such design in history. More feasibility studies are clearly required before we can have a clear picture of what the impossibilities or otherwise are.” Kelvin F. Long
The problem with this statement is that it is not actually true. Daedalus was designed to use Pulse Fusion, and that hasn’t panned out despite decades of research. You can’t really have a starship design without a workable propulsion system. Additionally, Daedalus was not a “starship” in the normal sense of the word but a giant unmanned space probe. That said, he is correct to point out that we have no idea what the real possibilities are because we haven’t really considered what those possibilities might be. This paper will explore the design of a Generational Starship using Fission Fragment (FF) propulsion with a Nuclear Pulse (NP) Booster. A Generational Starship defined as being a Starship that can travel to another star system within a human lifetime. The proposed Starship will carry a crew of four on a mission to Alpha Centauri (4.367ly) that will take forty years. Keeping the crew small substantially reduces the size of the Starship compared to past concepts for very large multi-generational Starships. Below is a conceptual view of what such a starship might look like.

Figure 1Concept Starship

A major area of research in the early years of fusion energy research was the magnetic mirror. Mo... more A major area of research in the early years of fusion energy research was the magnetic mirror. Most early mirror devices attempted to confine plasma near the focus of a non-planar magnetic field, or to be more precise, two such mirrors located close to each other and oriented at right angles. In order to escape the confinement area, nuclei had to enter a small annular area near each magnet. It was known that nuclei would escape through this area, but by adding and heating fuel continually it was felt this could be overcome. As development of mirror systems progressed, additional sets of magnets were added to either side, meaning that the nuclei had to escape through two such areas before leaving the reaction area entirely. A highly developed form, the Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF), used two mirrors at either end of a solenoid (four) to increase the internal volume of the reaction area. This is different than the proposed design which would have a massive bottle has the first set of mirrors in the middle. It is clear that if plasma is placed inside a magnetic mirror machine then all of the particles whose velocities lie in the loss cone promptly escape, but the remaining particles are confined. Collisions take place at a low rate even in very hot plasmas. One important effect of collisions is to cause diffusion of particles in velocity space. Thus, in a mirror machine collisions continuously scatter trapped particles into the loss cone, giving rise to a slow leakage of plasma out of the device. Even worse, plasmas whose distribution functions deviate strongly from an isotropic Maxwellian (e.g., a plasma confined in a mirror machine) are prone to velocity space instabilities, which tend to relax the distribution function back to a Maxwellian. Clearly, such instabilities are likely to have a disastrous effect on plasma confinement in a mirror machine. For these reasons, magnetic mirror machines have not been particularly successful plasma confinement devices, and attempts to achieve nuclear fusion using this type of device have mostly been abandoned.

The Positive Electrostatic Fusion Reactor uses electrostatic energy in two ways, first as a confi... more The Positive Electrostatic Fusion Reactor uses electrostatic energy in two ways, first as a confinement mechanism and secondly as a pumping mechanism to pump energy and direction into the ions. In the Positive Electrostatic Fusion Reactor the confinement shell has a large positive electric charge which keeps the ions positioned away from the reactor wall and centered in the reactor chamber. Since the wall has a high positive charge the positively charged ions (protons) will be repelled away from the wall back into the plasma or ion cloud. There are several potential ways to control the ion (proton) pumping action using electrostatics to create fusion, however the simplest solution appears to be a simple cylinder with electrostatic plates at each end. This would be a delicate balancing act between electrostatic forces.

A spaceplane is an aerospace vehicle that operates as an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere, as well ... more A spaceplane is an aerospace vehicle that operates as an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere, as well as a spacecraft when it is in space.[1] It combines features of an aircraft and a spacecraft, which can be thought of as an aircraft that can endure and maneuver in the vacuum of space or likewise a spacecraft that can fly like an airplane. Typically, it takes the form of a spacecraft equipped with wings, although lifting bodies have been designed and tested as well. The propulsion to reach space may be purely rocket based or may use the assistance of airbreathing jet engines. The spaceflight is then followed by an unpowered glide return to landing. Sled Launch Mankind needs an inexpensive method of launching spacecraft. For the past 48 years, the basic method has been multi-stage expendable rockets. There has always been great interest in a single-stage Reusable Launched Vehicle (RLV), to allow ordinary people to visit outer space for the same cost as a trip to Europe. In fact, the " Space Shuttle " was envisioned as a single-stage RLV, but that proved impractical so two semi-reusable rocket boosters and massive disposable fuel tank were needed, which pushed the total cost for each mission over $1.5 billion million. As a result, hopes for 100 shuttle launches a year dwindled to four a year. The Space Shuttle burned 40% of its fuel just to reach 1000 mph (Mach 1.3) because it struggles to push through against gravity and the dense lower atmosphere with a full fuel load. NASA's maglev assisted launch studies showed that a 600 mph (Mach 0.8) assisted launch can reduce the required fuel by 25%, allowing a single-stage RLV to make orbit with a substantial payload. NASA canceled a more recent attempt at a single-stage RLV, the X-33/Venturestar, when problems proved insurmountable. A rocket sled is a test platform that slides along a set of rails, propelled by rockets. As its name implies, a rocket sled does not use wheels. Instead, it has sliding pads, called "slippers", which are curved around the head of the rails to prevent the sled from flying off the track. The rail cross-section profile is that of a Vignoles rail, commonly used for railroads. A rocket sled holds the land-based speed record for a vehicle, at Mach 8.5. The fastest manned rail vehicle was a manned rocket sled, which carried USAF Colonel John Stapp at 1,017 km/h (632 mph). Effectively a launch rail would make the most expensive, first stage of a rocket fully reusable since the sled is returned to its starting position, to be refueled and may be reused in the order of hours after use. Present launch vehicles have performance-driven costs of thousands of dollars per kilogram of dry weight ; sled launch would reduce performance requirements and amortize hardware expenses over frequent, repeated launches. Designs for mountain based inclined rail 'rocket' sleds often use jet engines or rockets to accelerate the spacecraft mounted on it. Electromagnetic methods (such as Bantam, Maglifter, and StarTram) are another technique investigated to accelerate a rocket before launch, potentially scalable to greater rocket masses and velocities than air launch. Due to factors including the exponential nature of the rocket equation and higher propulsive efficiency than if a rocket takes off stationary, a NASA Maglifter study estimated that a 270 m/s (600 mph) launch of an ELV rocket from a 3000-meter altitude mountain peak could increase payload to LEO by 80% compared to the same rocket from a conventional launch pad. Mountains of such height are available within the mainland U.S. for the easiest logistics, or nearer to the Equator for a little more gain from Earth's rotation. Among other possibilities, a larger SSTO could be reduced in liftoff mass by 35% with such launch assist, dropping to 4 instead of 6 engines in one case considered.

This paper is not going to add any proposed new technology in solar cells, rectenna, etc., it is ... more This paper is not going to add any proposed new technology in solar cells, rectenna, etc., it is simply going to restructure the Space-based Solar Power (SBSP) system concept to achieve a 50% reduction in system mass by using an Active Space Power Relay. This will reduce the cost of constructing and deploying an SBSP system by the same 50%. The restructuring is based on using PowerSats in a Sun-synchronous orbit at 2,722 km and inclined at 40.1 degrees. They are outside the space junk area and will not require constant re-boost and importantly from this orbit the PowerSats can produce constant energy. The PowerSats will beam the energy to an Active Relay Satellite located in equatorial orbit at 10,300 km. In this orbit the Active Relay Satellite is high enough to get a good view of the PowerSats, and has a good view of ground based rectenna and it is 3.49 times closer to the Earth than GEO, therefore allowing a much smaller transmitter. This plays a very important role in mass reduction.