This fusion-powered rocket has the potential to reduce the travel time to Mars by half.

      Interplanetary travel may soon become significantly faster and hotter.

      UK startup Pulsar Fusion has introduced “Sunbird,” a concept for a nuclear fusion-powered rocket that could cut the journey time across our solar system in half — and possibly even further.

      Machine learning models indicate that this rocket could allow a spacecraft weighing about 1,000kg (2,200lb) to reach Pluto in four years, which is less than half the duration of NASA's New Horizons mission, which utilized standard ion thrusters. Traveling from Earth to Mars could take four months, while a trip to Saturn might take two years.

      Instead of launching each time from Earth, multiple Sunbirds would be "docked" in low-Earth orbit, prepared to connect to spacecraft and push them further into space.

      Sunbird will feature a Dual Direct Fusion Drive — a compact nuclear fusion engine capable of supplying both thrust and electrical energy for spacecraft.

      Pulsar began constructing the engine in 2023 at a location in Milton Keynes, England. Static tests are expected to start in 2025, followed by an “In Orbit Demonstration” (IOD) of the core technology components in 2027, as reported by the company. When activated, the engine could become the hottest location in the solar system, producing exhaust speeds exceeding 500,000mph (804,672km/h).

      From the UK to Mars

      Founded in 2011, Pulsar has dedicated over a decade to fusion research. More recently, the company has also been developing two additional products: a Hall-effect electric thruster for spacecraft and a second-stage hybrid rocket engine.

      “Pulsar has established a strong reputation in this industry for delivering real technology — not just discussing it,” said founder and CEO Richard Dinan. “We have recently commissioned not one, but two of the largest space propulsion testing chambers in the UK, if not in all of Europe — and we aim to expand from here.”

      While Pulsar's aspiration to construct and test a fusion reactor in space within three years is certainly ambitious, advances in AI could facilitate this process. The company has partnered with US-based Princeton Satellite Systems to analyze plasma behavior under electromagnetic confinement. The machine learning simulations will inform the rocket engine's design.

      In 2022, Pulsar received funding from the UK Space Agency to develop a nuclear-fission-based propulsion system, in collaboration with the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and Cambridge University.