HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- It's a "fusion pulse power generator" by definition, but you can call it "Charger 1" -- the name given by the University of Alabama in Huntsville researchers who believe it could lead to spaceships capable of traveling to Mars in weeks, not months. Government, academic and business leaders gathered Friday at Redstone Arsenal to unveil the device that resembles a cement truck's mixer with a million wires and switches attached.

The device was funded by $300,000 from the the Alabama Innovation Fund established by the Legislature at the urging of Gov. Robert Bentley. The governor was in Huntsville Friday for the ceremony and said he believes Charger 1 "could revolutionize space travel and, over time, this will help support the economy and the jobs here in Huntsville."

What scientists such as UAH research professor Dr. Jason Cassibry are doing is using the generator to create enormous power for less than a second and using that power to slam lithium and hydrogen atoms into each other and turn their mass into a tiny burst of pure energy. They will use that energy to study the possibility of fusion rockets capable of speeds far greater than are available today.

In an interview last year, Cassibry added the appropriate disclaimers. Even though such propulsion would produce high speed, this is not a "warp drive" engine. Nor will astronauts be "flying pinned to the back of the cabin," Cassibry said.

"At its heart," explained a university press release, "the pulsed fusion engine - like any other rocket engine - is a flying tea kettle. Cold material goes in, gets energized and hot gas pushes out."

Speakers at the unveiling put the research in a long line of rocket science history that began in Huntsville with the U.S. Army at Redstone Arsenal and Dr. Wernher von Braun. They compared the Legislature's commitment to the innovation fund in a time of tight funding to an early Legislature's decision to back von Braun's call for a research university in Huntsville that became UAH.

Marshall Space Flight Center Associate Director Dale Thomas said the event reminded him of an early photograph of rocket pioneer Robert Goddard. Addressing Cassibry, he said, "Jason, when we are going to deep space exploration, going to Mars, Jupiter and other places, and hopefully, I'll see it, I think we'll look back on this moment and say this is where it all began."

This story was modified at 4:30 p.m. CST to add additional comment by MSFC Associate Director Dale Thomas and a video

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