Reaction Mass for Starships
Moderator: Alyrium Denryle
Reaction Mass for Starships
I am currious, assuming starships with fusion reactors and so type of ion engine, woudl teh engine and teh reactor likely share the same bunkerage or would they be seperate?
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Ecclesiastes 9:5 (KJV)
Thomas Paine
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten."
Ecclesiastes 9:5 (KJV)
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Admiral Valdemar
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This depends on the design. The VASIMR fusion drive can use the reactor mass as propellant, or you can have a separate system using another element to be heated and ejected. Most would likely vouch for direct approach as it is simpler, but if you can get the propellant to fuse as well when ejected, then you get additional power going back to the grid on the ship and achieve higher particle velocities.