Comments on Next Big Future: Updates on Uranium hydride reactor and Bussard fus...

Very useful in the tar sands and shale oil fields....

2008-07-08T07:14:00.000-07:00

Very useful in the tar sands and shale oil fields. Energy independence!

Still, should gradually wean ourselves away from excess reliance on hydrocarbon transportation fuels.

JP Straley

bw, Could the build up of charge on the ion grid b...

2008-06-04T22:57:00.000-07:00

bw, Could the build up of charge on the ion grid be dissipated using an electron gun such as seen here:
http://www.electric-sailing.fi/

I thought that the problem was the wearing down of the grid as the ions strike it on the way out of the drive.

Does the slowness of the acceleration really matter. For example an it is said about Deep Space 1 that:

"The effect of the gentle thrust slowly builds up, eventually attaining speeds far beyond the reach of conventional propellants".

Also, what is it about VASIMIR which ultimately gives it greater ultimate speed?

For ion drives, I believe the power source is not ...

2008-05-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

For ion drives, I believe the power source is not the limiting factor. It is things like build up of charge on the ion grid.

Ion drives could get up to 100 km/s. The issues are the slow acceleration and problems scaling beyond not just the power source but other parts.

Vasimr scales better than ion drives in terms of acceleration, ultimate speed and in terms of power.

What would 100 MW do for us in terms of final spee...

2008-05-26T18:09:00.000-07:00

What would 100 MW do for us in terms of final speed for a space craft if we could use that to accelerate ions? Ion propulsion accelerates ions to 100,000 km/hr but if using some sort of accelerometer we could get much higher than that. But suspect this would be difficult.

8 tons is just the reactor "hot-tub" as I read it,...

2008-04-17T15:59:00.000-07:00

8 tons is just the reactor "hot-tub" as I read it, roid.

When are nuclear power producers, proponents and innovators going to realise that elaborate over-precaution makes people nervous? Like sirens, like KI pills, like alerts based on trivia? The uranium hydride battery-reactor does not, not, NOT need to be buried deep underground. The maximum burial needed is to have the top of the enclosing chamber flush with the surface, but even that is probably more expensive than building above ground without changing the safety/security by any noticeable degree.

Your figures for the Uranium Hydride reactor - ass...

2008-04-17T07:28:00.000-07:00

Your figures for the Uranium Hydride reactor - assuming the whole system is included in that 8 tons - then that's a 16x greater power density (by weight) than the Safe400 reactor.