Re: starship-design: Plasma Drive...

["Adam Crowl" <ajcrowlx2@ozemail.com.au>]

Hi SD,

That's a bloody good Idea Kevin. Beamed power without the need for totally
beamed power, just a kind of top up. A pure microwave system never struck me
as safe, but a plasma storage system has an advantage...

Adam
----- Original Message -----
From: Kevin Houston <Kevin@urly-bird.com>
To: Adam Crowl <ajcrowlx2@ozemail.com.au>
Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 1999 2:56 PM
Subject: Re: starship-design: Plasma Drive...


> Hmm,
>
> Very interesting.  I like that it is microwave powered.  You could make a
> really nice beamed launch vehicle.  A little bit of water to start things
> off, then breathe air until you clear the stratosphere, and then use
> whatever reaction mass you are using (I suggest water).  The whole time,
> you can continue to add energy, so that the craft has full power when it
> reaches space.
>
> The power station stays on the ground, next to the Hydroelectric plant (or
> whatever) that generates the power.
>
> Kevin
>
> At 06:27 AM 9/29/99 +1000, you wrote:
> >Hi SD,
> >
> >Well here's the URL for the Final Report on the Stable Plasma power
storage
> >concept...
> >
> >http://peaches.niac.usra.edu/studies/9801/9801Final/SewardFinal.pdf
> >
> >...it requires Adobe Acrobat 3.0. It seems to have great potential and
the
> >plasma could be powered up by any old energy source, via a microwave
> >injector or some such. Theoretically a stable plasma could be put in a
jet
> >engine and the aircraft would require NO fuel, and still have enough
power
> >to travel around the world! It'd just compress and heat normal air...
> >Applied to a space launcher the savings could be immense, and applied to
a
> >Mars mission the mass would go from ~ 600 t [split between three
launches]
> >to one launch of about 120 t! That's an 80% saving in mass and God knows
how
> >much in equipment and development.
> >
> >Ultimately it could go into a system using small sub-plasmas for thrust
and
> >achieve maybe 60,000 s Isp... I can see real potential for this coupled
with
> >a Bussard fusor for high speed Deep Space missions...
> >
> >Adam
> >
>
>