A small fusion engine such as Direct Fusion Drive would be useful for almost any deep space mission, as well as inner space missions such as Lagrange points or manned Mars missions. The superconducting coils have applications to scientific payloads as well as other advanced propulsion concepts. For example, the AMS-02 experiment for the ISS had a low-temperature superconducting coil option which was built and tested, but swapped out for a traditional magnet with a longer lifetime when the flight opportunity changed. The VASIMR electric thruster requires superconducting coils. There has been considerable research on using superconducting coils for radiation shielding and they may also be useful for space materials processing and and precision formation flying.
There are many military and civil applications of the engine and the coils. Military space applications include high-power Earth satellites with radar, laser, or communications payloads. There are wider applications including generators for wind turbines, high efficiency motors, particle accelerators, energy storage, and terrestrial fusion reactors. This project would contribute greatly to this wider body of work.
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