Feasibility study of a mission to Sedna – Nuclear propulsion and solar sailing

This direct fusion drive is a really interesting concept. Maybe something like this could be used for interstellar travel in a century (or five), it is very encouraging that there is active research on it. ~5kg of thrust is not a lot, but over time...

This sounds significantly more feasible than nuclear pulse propulsion ("project orion" style) which I used to think was the only feasible approach to get to another star.

One thing that was unclear from the paper to me: How does the fusion drive "pick" D/He3 fusion over D/D? Can this be "forced" by just cranking the plasma temperature way up? Or do you still just have to deal with a bunch of neutrons from undesired D/D fusion?

> This sounds significantly more feasible than nuclear pulse propulsion ("project orion" style) which I used to think was the only feasible approach to get to another star.

I still carry a torch for project Orion, it's impossible to not love.

* Feasible 50 years ago, not 50 years from now.

* No ultra lightweight fancy space age materials, steel and lots of it.

* Seriously, lots of it, let's launch a battleship to to Mars,

* or Jupiter,

* or Alpha Centauri.

* Gives everyone something way better to do with all those nuclear bombs they have laying around.