Re: starship-design: Plasma power

[Ben Franchuk <bfranchuk@jetnet.ab.ca>]

Steve VanDevender wrote:
> Also, if your idea is to essentially throw some hydrogen out the back
> slowly and then throw more out the back very, very quickly in the hopes
> it will fuse with the hydrogen you dumped earlier, then the problem is
> that the fusion doesn't happen in a place where you can get thrust from
> it.  If you hold a stick of dynamite against the back of your car and
> detonate it, it will push the car forward (how to avoid blowing the back
> of your car off is left as an exercise for the reader :-).  If you drop
> a stick of dynamite on the road behind you and set it off after it's
> fallen away, it won't push on your car much at all.  Your concept is
> much like the latter car-and-dynamite 

I think exploding small atomic bombs for thust is the car-and-dynamite
situation..
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 We borrow it from our children."
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