New IEC fusion project - in-space thruster

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Matthew Travis
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Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2023 3:24 pm
Real name: Matthew Travis
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New IEC fusion project - in-space thruster

Post by Matthew Travis »

Hello Everyone,

I am new to the forum, although not to fusor technology. I wanted to post about a new project that I’m leading. I have been in discussions with the University of Illinois, Dr. George Miley’s team at the Fusion Research Laboratory, on something that they have proposed. Specifically, this will be a project to build a demonstration of an IEC fusion spacecraft thruster and fly it in LEO as a proof-of-concept. Dr. Miley proposed this over a decade ago. I was originally inspired by Miley’s paper “Space Probe Application Of IEC Thrusters”.

I’ve reached out to both Dr. Miley and Dr. Rizwan Uddin, Department Head of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering at the University and they’ve expressed support. I plan on visiting the University next month to check out the lab and have some project kick-off meetings.

As for my background and how I fit in, I am one of the founders and currently CTO at Aphelion Aerospace, Inc. Aphelion is developing a small satellite launch vehicle and in-space propulsion products for spacecraft applications. Our first propulsion products will be on the market this year after over 4 years of development. When I joined the founding team as the first company President, one of my motivations was to build a business that could support projects like this. In the future, Aphelion will be able to launch the demonstrator or I can use my equity to purchase launch services from another provider.

Aphelion has a strong industry network to support this project, including companies such as epsilon3, Antaris, LeafSpace, Alaska Aerospace Corp, among others. Our network includes approximately a dozen companies.

So far for this project, I have been building a dedicated team to work with the UI Fusion Research Lab. We have several engineers as well as two contractors for design, simulation, and manufacturing support.

Hopefully, we’ll have something ready to fly by the end of 2025.
Matthew Travis
CEO, ARES Institute, Inc.
CEO, IEC, Inc.
matthew.travis@aresinstitute.org
Schedule a Meeting: https://calendly.com/matthewtravis
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Rich Feldman
Posts: 1470
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2009 6:59 pm
Real name: Rich Feldman
Location: Santa Clara County, CA, USA

Re: New IEC fusion project - in-space thruster

Post by Rich Feldman »

Welcome, and good luck.

How is your Aphelion venture going? Its website appears to be unmaintained.
https://aphelionaerospace.com/
Can you give us hints about its novel rocket fuel chemistry,
before explaining here how you intend to get thrust from IEC fusion?
All models are wrong; some models are useful. -- George Box
William Turner
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Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2022 10:09 am
Real name: William Turner

Re: New IEC fusion project - in-space thruster

Post by William Turner »

I suspect fusion will play no real role in providing thrust ... it would have to be an ion engine at best and scam at worst.
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