Pulsar Fusion unveils the design of Sunbird, a revolutionary rocket that would halve the time currently needed to connect Earth to Mars. It could eventually propel astronauts beyond of the Solar System.
Finding how to travel from Earth to Mars as quickly as possible. This is what has obsessed space agencies and companies for several years. For this, we imagine special fuels that have never been seen before, for example. Pulsar Fusion, the startup that in 2023 claimed to be able to connect the blue planet and the red planet in 45 days, is ahead in this race to find the best way to shorten the travel time.
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Its ambitions have been slightly scaled back since then, at least in the near future, but are nonetheless impressive. After years of secret development, the firm unveils Sunbird, its rocket powered by nuclear fusion. At its peak, it can produce a thrust of about 805,000 km/h.
This revolutionary rocket wants to take us to Mars in just 4 months
Pulsar is actually considering a whole network of Sunbirds in space. The idea is not to launch the craft from Earth on each trip by attaching it to a ship, but to place several in low orbit at strategic locations. All that would be needed then is to pick it up on the way and put the gas on.
In addition to targeting the red planet, projections indicate that Sunbird would allow our planet to be connected to Saturn in 2 years, or to Pluto in 4 years. Half as much as NASA's New Horizons mission in the latter case. You can admire the futuristic shape of the device below.
Concerning the rocket's commissioning, Pulsar Fusion already has a specific schedule. Construction of a Sunbird prototype has begun and tests of the power supply system will be carried out during 2025. If successful, an in-orbit demonstration of the fusion engine will then take place in 2027.
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