Abstract
Laser fusion rocket is a thrust system in which a propellant is ionized by a plasma from inertial
confinement fusion (ICF), and the lasers are driven by an output energy from ICF. The laser fusion
rocket generates large thrust and high specific impulse simultaneously and it would be one of the
candidates for manned interplanetary missions, as reported in the concept of ICF rocket (VISTA), which
has been first proposed in 1983 and summarized in 2003. Though this system uses a magnetic nozzle to
control and extract a propellant plasma, it is unclear how the magnetic nozzle works in such an
explosively expanding plasma. In this paper, we introduce the numerical research on this thrust system,
and experimental investigations of thrust generation, ion extraction, and plasma diagnostics.
