Design Concepts For The Interstellar Ramjet

B. N. Cassenti. (1993), JBIS, 46, pp.151-160

Refcode: 1993.46.151

Abstract:

The concept of the interstellar ramjet was first presented by Bussard [1] in 1960. The ramjet operates by collecting the hydrogen in interstellar space, adding energy to accelerate the hydrogen and then expelling it from the vehicle. Bussard assumed the hydrogen would be fused into helium thus providing the increase in energy. Figure 1 is a schematic of the concept taken from Bussard’s original paper.