Newsgroups: sci.space
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Solid State Fusion for Launchers
Message-ID: <1989Apr1.224916.22484@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <1989Mar31.163051.5961@cs.rochester.edu>
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 89 22:49:16 GMT

In article <1989Mar31.163051.5961@cs.rochester.edu> dietz@cs.rochester.edu (Paul Dietz) writes:
>The second possibility is to use a smaller fusion reactor to preheat
>fuel and/or oxidizer before injection into a conventional chemical
>engine.  This would increase the Isp beyond that possible with
>chemical fuels alone.

I doubt the practicality of this.  Existing oxyhydrogen rockets already
run fuel-rich partly to *cool* the exhaust a bit (and thus reduce thermal
dissociation of water into oxygen and hydrogen).  It might help the less
energetic fuels like hydrazine, but why bother?  If the power densities
stay low, the big use will probably be as a power source for electrical
propulsion in space.
-- 
Welcome to Mars!  Your         |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
passport and visa, comrade?    | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu