Post A3NbrtbAN5eOsu4FLE by PakkonenCT@noagendasocial.com
(DIR) More posts by PakkonenCT@noagendasocial.com
(DIR) Post #A3NbrtbAN5eOsu4FLE by PakkonenCT@noagendasocial.com
2021-01-19T01:21:44Z
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Nuclear fuck yeah! To Jupiter & Back in a couple months each way on a single fuel load.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvZjhWE-3zM
(DIR) Post #A3Nc4fTQCO32qEXFE8 by Genen@noagendasocial.com
2021-01-19T01:24:03Z
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@PakkonenCT Ya this is a very cool concept and Scott Manley is great (aside from his typical CA politics)
(DIR) Post #A3Neb9azwMrpRGhI0m by dsmatthews@mastodon.online
2021-01-19T01:52:18Z
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@PakkonenCT It is an interesting concept from before the ideas around hybrid fusion-fission devices were developed. Compact aneutronic fusion could produce large amounts of accelerated ions on its own, but if you are stuck with more typical fusion you can still use that with fission such that the fusion produces the neutrons to control the rate of fission with even thorium being a potential fuel option. I see no reason why the interstellar option is not viable.
(DIR) Post #A3NhPR1VcRDPsRCWwa by PakkonenCT@noagendasocial.com
2021-01-19T02:23:50Z
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@dsmatthews Sure, but the only reason to use Thoriumis in a Fast/Breeder power reactor.This would just provide propulsive power. You would have a whole other reactor for power systems. You also don't care about neutrons because you are actually trying to maximize them in this reaction - and then you are ejecting them out the back before they do TOO much damage to your internals. criticality doesn't happen until it's almost in the nozzle itself - really rapid maximum criticality
(DIR) Post #A3NhiVXz1XW1PRU9fE by dsmatthews@mastodon.online
2021-01-19T02:27:15Z
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@PakkonenCT The extra neutrons are also to make it more efficient, "burn" more of the fuel in a way that you can dial up and down. It also means you can use a better behaved fuel mix and transform it on the way to the nozzle.
(DIR) Post #A3NhqxaaeEx6hGjdTc by PakkonenCT@noagendasocial.com
2021-01-19T02:28:48Z
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@dsmatthews It's a 2% mix of Uranium-Tetrabromide in water. The enrichment of the uranium is anywhere from 20% power reactor grade to full on weapons grade enrichment of the 235 isotope.Yes using weapons grade enrichment is best - but I can see that being reserved for military craft.
(DIR) Post #A3NiF30m8i0qSpT84W by dsmatthews@mastodon.online
2021-01-19T02:33:09Z
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@PakkonenCT My previous point is you can do the enrichment on the way to the nozzle then feed it as separate upgraded but still subcritical streams to the designed critical point in the nozzle. It passes through a fusion driven neutron field. This means that you don't need to fill your tanks with boron foam or whatever.
(DIR) Post #A3NiMfWJMbgzvJqyky by PakkonenCT@noagendasocial.com
2021-01-19T02:34:31Z
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@dsmatthews That's not now enrichment works - the uranium concentration stays the same - it's the amount of 235 vs 238 in that 2% mixture that changes.Adding fusion adds complexity for no value in this case.
(DIR) Post #A3Niibks2jQWcJ7oGW by dsmatthews@mastodon.online
2021-01-19T02:38:29Z
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@PakkonenCT That is how it works as the fusion supplied neutrons are captured by the non-enriched isotopes and they are upgraded. fusion-fission is really funky, you can even burn nuclear waste. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion%E2%80%93fission_hybrid#Hybrid_concepts
(DIR) Post #A3NjBSDkZOvTReO7W4 by PakkonenCT@noagendasocial.com
2021-01-19T02:43:42Z
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@dsmatthews God I hate it when people just insist on coming into shit obliquely like this.Yes you can do all those things - but given the idea that you want to make something happen you can't complicate it from the get go. It doesn't get you anywhere.The point is that this is tech we have right now and its merely an engineering problem - not one of figuring out physics to a T
(DIR) Post #A3Njb5JMMyZLvCEXMu by dsmatthews@mastodon.online
2021-01-19T02:48:20Z
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@PakkonenCT Well the basic idea would need to be tested offworld anyway as it can't even be safely prototyped on Earth. But the advanced stuff is not Sci Fi as the Chinese have already done a full engineering study/design for a hybrid reactor and the Russians have started building theirs, https://www.neimagazine.com/news/newsrussia-develops-a-fission-fusion-hybrid-reactor-6168535
(DIR) Post #A3NjtwWDHiRy9aEoCW by PakkonenCT@noagendasocial.com
2021-01-19T02:51:45Z
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@dsmatthews We tested prototypes in the 60's out on Jackass Flats in NV. Hell they let the core melt down in secret tests - the wind blew radioisotopes all over Vegas...but we have tested these on Earth. We know they work. We don't need fusion for this - it's a layer of unnecessary complexity. We're not worried about breeding fuel in the exhaust...at all.
(DIR) Post #A3Nke166ao95fwzneq by dsmatthews@mastodon.online
2021-01-19T03:00:04Z
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@PakkonenCT The "efficient" design proposed in the paper referenced in the video is not the same as the work done in the 60's that super heated the reaction mass as it flowed through the reactor core as if it was a coolant, they really would need an offworld facility to test whatever they came up with for a transsolar system transport vehicle. Even greater impulse can be achieved by incorporating a helicon plasma thruster into the nozzle section to further accelerate the ions.