In terms of fusion drivers I've always liked NASA's PuFF[1] or Pulsed Fission Fusion. The idea is to use a normal z-pinch pulsed fusion setting, which won't normally be self sustaining. But if you surround the D-T mix with depleted uranium it'll adsorb a lot of the fast neutrons from the fusion and trigger a round of fission generating more energy. The recoil against the magnetic compressor/nozzle should be enough to generate enough energy for the next pulse and the reaction byproduct are emitted to become your propellant.<p>[1]<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/puff" rel="nofollow">https://www.nasa.gov/puff</a>
NASA needs to stop being wimps and bring back Project Orion<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propuls...</a>
Am I the only one to admit thinking "Odd, It makes no sense returning to hybrid disk + ssd drives(1)".<p>Anyway. Way more cool.<p>(1) <a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_Drive" rel="nofollow">https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_Drive</a>
The concept described there sounds like BS. If you're not achieving breakeven, it's probably much easier to just heat plasma with the drive energy and expel that (VASIMIR, if you've heard of that). The plasma stays much cooler than a fusion plasma, so radiation from it should be less -- and this radiation is a big problem, since it heats the vehicle, and that heat has to be radiated, and radiators are big and heavy.<p>The problem of cooling is the bete noir of all high Isp propulsion systems. This is why I liked laser propelled systems, since it's possible to cool an object with a laser beam (anti-Stokes scattering).