Re: Lift off on fusion rockets

Bertil Sez:
>   I was thinking that there might be problems in getting the thing to
> ignite in the first place if the ignition chamber or whatever isn't in a
> vacuum. You could rig some contraption that 'opens the door' after
> ignition trusting to the pressure to keep the air out, but there is
> a risk of 'disposable doors' here if the ignition/opening isn't handled
> exactly correctly. And if they are gone your engine won't start.

Anatomy of the fusion rocket:
Well, we're going to have some kind of physical thrust chamber, but the
only real way to handle plasma is with electromagnetic fields.  If one
ionized the air inside the physical chamber, it should be a simple
matter to eject the air out of the physical chamber.  If a vacuum is
necessary at all, all you really need would be a vacuum of ten to the
minus three torr (Not very low pressure at all).  At that pressure,
air loses it's ability to flow and acts as individual molecules bouncing
around.

All the plasma and fusion guns of Traveller would have the same kind of
problems.  If we are to assume that a plasma gun works at all, we must
conclude that this is not really a large problem.

> > We DO have an extensive anti-aircraft network,
> > but not many people ever really see NORAD.
>
>   Isn't NORAD primarily a detection network?

I believe so, however, in conjunction with the many USAF bases around
the country, I'd say it was part of an anti-aircraft network.

Scott 2G Kellogg