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All I want is truck-size fusion reactors. That would open up the Solar System the way the steam engine opened up the oceans. Ideally you'd have a custom desig
by Florin_Andrei 6y ago
All I want is truck-size fusion reactors.
That would open up the Solar System the way the steam engine opened up the oceans.
Ideally you'd have a custom design for rocket engines, where the reactor is semi-open: you feed in fuel through one end, and have the nozzle generating thrust at the other end. Even better if you could optionally close that, when you need only electricity but no thrust.
- dovin 6y agoI see why you might make the analogy. Steam ships opened up trade routes that were impractical for sail power, but the way you phrased it is odd as the oceans seemed pretty open to sail already. I think fusion rockets would be a lot more revolutionary actually.
- Florin_Andrei 6y agoSpaceX's Starship is the "age of sail" in space. For the "age of steam" we need nuclear power.
- pfdietz 6y agoDT fusion reactors have no advantage over fission reactors in space; in fact they are inferior. Putative space fusion reactors would have to use advanced fuels.