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starship-design: JPL Research & Technology Report
This is a quote from a NASA report about the ICAN project:
"Pennsylvania State University Antiproton-Catalyzed Micro-Fission/Fusion
Concept
This picture illustrates the antiproton-catalyzed micro-fission/fusion
concept under development at Pennsylvania State University. In this
approach to inertial confinement fusion (ICF) propulsion, a pellet
containing uranium (U) fission fuel and deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion fuel
is compressed by lasers, ion beams, etc. At the time of peak compression,
the target is bombarded with a small number (~100 million) of antiprotons
to catalyze the U fission process. (For comparison, ordinary U fission
produces around 2 neutrons per fission; by contrast, antiproton-induced U
fission has been experimentally observed to produce about 16 neutrons per
fission.) The fission energy release then triggers a high-efficiency fusion
burn to heat the propellant, resulting in an expanding plasma used to
produce thrust. Interestingly, unlike "pure" antimatter propulsion concepts
which use large amounts of antimatter (because all of the propulsive energy
is supplied by matter-antimatter annihilation), this concept uses
antimatter in amounts that we can produce today with existing technology
and facilities. Also, because much of the fusion ignition energy comes from
the initial fission reaction, it may be possible to employ simpler pellet
compression "drivers" (e.g., lasers, etc.) and use aneutronic (non-neutron
producing) fuels like D-He3."
The last sentence explains my optimism for this concept. There are other
aneutronic reactions that liberate even more energy. If we can scale this
up just a little more...
The full report can be found at:
http://jpl-edm.jpl.nasa.gov/~tap/Report_dir/242-70-03.html
Lee
(o o)
------------------------------------------------------oOO--(_)--OOo-----
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Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren't go a-hunting
For fear of little men;
William Allingham, Ireland, 1850