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> Sparc would be far smaller than ITER — about the size of a tennis court, compared with a soccer field If we could make efficient fusion reactors the size of
by Florin_Andrei 6y ago
> Sparc would be far smaller than ITER — about the size of a tennis court, compared with a soccer field
If we could make efficient fusion reactors the size of a truck, the solar system will become our backyard.
- sempron64 6y agoWhat we really need are better ion propulsion systems. Even with a power source current ion propulsion systems are much slower than chemical rockets for short-term deep space missions like transit to Mars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrically_powered_spacecraft_propulsion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrically_powered_spacecraf... Realistically, if we had good electric propulsion we could just slap a conventional fission reactor in there. We already launch plutonium on many deep-space missions for steady nuclear power. For now chemical propulsion is simply faster and more reliable, electric propulsion is still in the early stages, and there are many other problems to solve in human spaceflight.
- pfdietz 6y agoDT fusion would be quite useless in space. The reactors are necessarily much larger than fission reactors, especially space reactors that can use highly enriched materials. And like fission it produces its energy as heat (from the neutrons.) Why use a large, complex heat source, when one can use a small, simple heat source?