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Re: starship-design: Staged Fusion Power



   N. Lindberg wrote:

>         I was reading some of the numbers for the various engines that
> could be used to power a starship, and I noticed that every fusion
> reaction shown only used its fuel once.  If a closed powerplant (not
> rocket) could be run hot enough, there's no reason I can see not to run
> the fuel up to heavier elements instead of just throwing it away after it
> turns to helium. Note:  I didn't do any math for this one, it might be
> impractical.  Although I realize that a scheme like this would require
> reactors far superior to a today's can't-quite-ignite tokamaks, it might
> be doable in fifty years. The power from this type of reactor could be
> used to power a laser or ion drive, the latter prehaps adding the
> reactor exhaust to the Xenon reaction mass.
>         The upshot is, exhaust recycling could reduce the amount of fuel
> required by which is one of the major hurdles of starflight.
> Best Regards,
> Nels Lindberg



    Could you combine fusion and fission to produce a continuos reaction?

From,
Zachary Johnson