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starship-design: Proton-Lithium Fusion Drive



p + 7.Li --> 2 (4.He) + 17.3 ev
 
Having been a longtime advocate of proton-beryllium fusion reaction as a spaceship drive, when I heard of the proton-lithium cycle I immediately converted because of the universal abundance of lithium compared to beryllium. Both these cycles have the insuperable advantage of not yielding neutrons, as do other fusion cycles, making them clean and not dirty. My proposal for a compact space drive includes a lithium electric arc centered between cyclotron dees, to project lithium ions through gaseous hydrogen, as the basis for a fusion drive. Lithium is not as abundant as hydrogen, which suggests it should be the accelerated species, that a higher proportion of it might be involved in fusion reactions. The ideal material for a combustion chamber would be 12.C isotopic CVD (chemical vapor deposition) diamond deposited over cooling channels through which liquid hydrogen circulates; no solid material conducts heat better than diamond made of carbon-12, nor does any element carry heat away faster than hydrogen, superfluid helium III excepted, for which cryogenic requirements are too strict for use in engines. Diamond can be used only because there are no oxidizing conditions present, and under reducing conditions diamond will serve as a fair refractory, so long as its temperature can be kept below its sublimation point. As with any rocket drive, I  would wrap a superconducting coil around the exit jet, for the magnetoplasmadynamic benefits.
 
Johnny Thunderbird
http://personal.msy.bellsouth.net/msy/b/u/bugzappr