Centauri Dreams covered the 2013 100 year Starship Symposium
At the first track session for “Factors in Time and Distance Solutions,” Terry Kammash (University of Michigan) ran through the basics of the rocket equation to show why chemical rockets were inadequate for deep space travel. Kammash is interested in a fusion hybrid reactor whose neutron flux induces fission, a system that could eventually enable interstellar missions. It is based on Gas Dynamic Mirror (GDM) methods that surround a plasma-bearing vacuum chamber with a long, slender, current-bearing coil of wire. The plasma is trapped within magnetic fields that control the instability of the plasma. Here it’s worth mentioning that a Gas Dynamic Mirror propulsion experiment in 1998 produced plasma during a NASA test of the plasma injector system, injecting a gas into the GDM and heating it with microwaves in a method called Electronic Cyclotron Resonance Heating.
Gas Dynamic Mirror (GDM) Fusion Propulsion system has an engine. It is a long, slender, current-carrying coil of wire that acts like a magnet surrounds a vacuum chamber that contains plasma. The plasma is trapped within the magnetic fields created in the central section of the system. At each end of the engine are mirror magnets that prevent the plasma from escaping out the ends of the engine too quickly.
In 1998, the GDM Fusion Propulsion Experiment at NASA produced plasma during a test of the plasma injector system, which works similar to the forward cell of the VASIMR. It injects a gas into the GDM and heats it with Electronic Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) induced by a microwave antenna operating at 2.45 gigahertz. Researchers have continued experiments and theoretical work.
2010 lecture- Meeting the World's Energy Needs with the Fusion Hybrid Reactor by Terry Kammash
Dissertation related to Gas Dynamic Fusion Propulsion
Here is a 2011 dissertation (119 pages) - A Computational Magnetohydrodynamic Model of a Gas Dynamic Fusion space propulsion System
The goal of this body of work was to advance our understanding of gas dynamic mirror (GDM) fusion propulsion systems. Kammash’s analytical model suggested that deuterium−tritium (D−T) and deuterium−3 helium (D−3He) GDMs were feasible, but they were large at 250 to 100,000 metric tons with up to 75% of the mass accounted for by radiators rather than confinement magnets. Starting from that point, this effort has explored alternate GDM concepts, identified the challenges for modeling GDMs using computational MHD approaches, and found solutions to a number of those challenges.
Read more »
Reposted via Next Big Future
At the first track session for “Factors in Time and Distance Solutions,” Terry Kammash (University of Michigan) ran through the basics of the rocket equation to show why chemical rockets were inadequate for deep space travel. Kammash is interested in a fusion hybrid reactor whose neutron flux induces fission, a system that could eventually enable interstellar missions. It is based on Gas Dynamic Mirror (GDM) methods that surround a plasma-bearing vacuum chamber with a long, slender, current-bearing coil of wire. The plasma is trapped within magnetic fields that control the instability of the plasma. Here it’s worth mentioning that a Gas Dynamic Mirror propulsion experiment in 1998 produced plasma during a NASA test of the plasma injector system, injecting a gas into the GDM and heating it with microwaves in a method called Electronic Cyclotron Resonance Heating.
Gas Dynamic Mirror (GDM) Fusion Propulsion system has an engine. It is a long, slender, current-carrying coil of wire that acts like a magnet surrounds a vacuum chamber that contains plasma. The plasma is trapped within the magnetic fields created in the central section of the system. At each end of the engine are mirror magnets that prevent the plasma from escaping out the ends of the engine too quickly.
In 1998, the GDM Fusion Propulsion Experiment at NASA produced plasma during a test of the plasma injector system, which works similar to the forward cell of the VASIMR. It injects a gas into the GDM and heats it with Electronic Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) induced by a microwave antenna operating at 2.45 gigahertz. Researchers have continued experiments and theoretical work.
2010 lecture- Meeting the World's Energy Needs with the Fusion Hybrid Reactor by Terry Kammash
Dissertation related to Gas Dynamic Fusion Propulsion
Here is a 2011 dissertation (119 pages) - A Computational Magnetohydrodynamic Model of a Gas Dynamic Fusion space propulsion System
The goal of this body of work was to advance our understanding of gas dynamic mirror (GDM) fusion propulsion systems. Kammash’s analytical model suggested that deuterium−tritium (D−T) and deuterium−3 helium (D−3He) GDMs were feasible, but they were large at 250 to 100,000 metric tons with up to 75% of the mass accounted for by radiators rather than confinement magnets. Starting from that point, this effort has explored alternate GDM concepts, identified the challenges for modeling GDMs using computational MHD approaches, and found solutions to a number of those challenges.
Read more »
Reposted via Next Big Future
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