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Compact Fusion Power Plant Concept Uses State-of-the-Art ...

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Tokamaks use magnetic fields to contain plasma; someday, Fusion Nuclear Reactors will hopefully use tokamaks to generate cheap and clean energy.  Compact Advanced Tokamak (CAT) designs carefully shape the plasma and the distribution of current in the plasma; thus, fusion plant operators can suppress turbulence in the plasma to mitigate dysfunctional heat loss. Thus, we gain higher pressures and fusion power with lower input power. 

Improved performance with decrease plasma current reduces stress and heat loads. This alleviates some challenges facing fusion plant designers. Higher pressure improves the plasma particle motion to generate the much needed current. This enables plants to undergo much less operational stress than traditional pulsed approaches to fusion power, enabling smaller, less expensive power plants.

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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_modular_reactor

Small modular reactors (SMRs) are nuclear fission reactors with an electrical power output less than 300 MW. They are typically manufactured at a plant; then, transported to a site for installation.  This contrasts sharply with traditional nuclear fission reactors; so large and complex, they must be constructed on site for years and cost billions of dollars.

POSSIBLE BENEFITS: reduced on-site construction, increased containment efficiency, and enhanced safety via passive safety features. SMRs greatly reduce staffing versus conventional nuclear reactors. SMRs acquisition costs and operational costs are much less then for traditional nuclear reactors.

Designs range from thermal-neutron reactors to fast-neutron reactors as well as molten salt and gas cooled reactor models.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_modular_reactor#/media/File:Figure_4_Illustration_of_a_light_water_small_modular_nuclear_reactor_(SMR)_(20848048201).jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6JUsZzwrC8

available for new material; includes Artificial Gravity.... by Pavel Konecny ASTEROIDAL Vast majority of space travel will take place in asteroidal habitats. Asteroidal orbits Asteroid materials Over the next century, mankind will become adept of constructing cylindrical habitats from material already in space (mostly asteroids, but comets have their place). Just like transport of most goods is accomplished today not by subsonic jet liners but by huge, very cost effective, cargo ships (well over 100,000 vessels greater then 100 tons traverse the oceans today). We'll gain plenty of experience building, moving and dwelling in asteroidal habitats. Most interplanetary space travel in the Solar System will happen not in the quick spaceships with particle accelerator propulsion systems, but on these much more comfortable habitats. Cyclers. Some habitats will cycle between Earth's orbit and orbits of other planets. The trips will take months, but the travel conditions will be excellent (like living at home or better). Habitats will be so big that the spin around the longitudinal axis won't be noticed, but this spin will produce an Earth like gravity. They'll have their own fields, forests, jungles, rivers or any environment that enterprise perceives a market for. A few habitats will be "towed" by g-force vessels directly to their, perhas to orbit around Jupiter or another giant gas planet. A few habitats will even share Earth's orbit around the Sun. Cruise Phase of Interstellar Trips Interstellar vessel must cruise at a constant velocity for most of their voyage due to inherent fuel limits on g-force propulsion.  Without g-force, how will the vessel simulate earth like gravity? During cruise, gravity comes from angular momentum, constant rotation of axial rotation about the longitudinal axis (i.e., asteroidal habitat). Occupants will transition from walking on the decks and considering direction "up" as being the direction of travel (toward forward end of vessel which is pointing toward destination); they will now walk on the inside of the outer hull of the vessel and consider "up" as toward the center of the vessel (center being an imaginary longintudinal axis running throughout the vessel length). Eventually, the vessel will come to the distance where it needs to decelerate. During this phase, "up" will once again be toward forward end of vessel (now pointing to departure star) and people will start walking on decks again. I suppose one could call such vehicles interstellar "cruisers". Conclusion: When interstellar flight is a new, novel experience, humans should have acquired lots of experience living in large, rotating habitats in space. Humans should get plenty of experience with asteroids to fulfill interplanetary missions because economies of scale will need large safe vessels with lots of capacity for passengers and cargo to accomodate the large distances in our Solar System. These same type vessels will prove indispensable to accommodate the much greater distances between stellar systems. Divided into three sections: @@@Thinking About It@@@ @@@Getting Ready@@@ @@@Getting There@@@ Near Earth Objects (NEOs) present much more opportunity then risk. Near Earth Objects (NEOs) present much more opportunity then risk. Most NEOs present absolutely no risk at all because their trajectories do not impact the Earth ever. These NEOs are pure opportunity to harvest at will; the only risk is that we'll refuse to harvest them at all. For the very few NEOs which will impact the Earth; they present an imperative for ASAP harvesting before they present any danger.  Asteroids will provide most material for habitat construction. Compare orbits for Earth and Apollo, a NEO with great opportunity. The paths of habitats will essentially be those of asteroids; thus, TE computes orbits of asteroids, objects orbiting the Sun. Recall that Kepler proved that all orbits are elliptical. Orbitors Planetary - acts in a satellite fashion Orbitors are habitats which revolve around Solar System objects to include Sol itself, planets and even large moons. They will provide comfortable abodes for many people as well as many types of production facilities. However, they won't provide travel capability; instead, they will themselves be travel endpoints (dept/dest). While Dr. O'Neill used the term "habitat", he postulated the first orbitor to circle the Earth at the famous Lagrange 5 (L5) point. Perhaps O'Neill's "Island One" might orbit Earth at L5, and his much larger Island Three might orbit Sol at either 60 degrees ahead or behind Earth in its orbit. Advantages of Terran orbit include the available sunlight.. Cyclers Interplanetary - acts in an asteroidal fashion. Cyclers are refashioned Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) with highly eccentric Solar orbits. These orbits are modified to consistently cross several different planetary orbits. This configuration allows cyclers to provide inexpensive transport throughout the Solar System. Initially, cyclers will as regular transports from Earth orbit to other planetary orbits and perhaps to other habitats. Cruisers Interstellar - acts in a straightline photonic fashion. Much like photons travel in a straight line directly from one star to another, cruisers will be very large habitats which will travel directly from Sol to Alpha Centauri (AC) and other stellar neighbors. While large physical objects can't travel at light speed like massless photons, propulsion systems with constant acceleration capabilities can enable spacecraft to travel to AC in years (much less time then "generations" as some writers speculate). Practical interstellar profile would include "x" months of g-force acceleration, several years of cruising at a constant relativistic speed, then "x" months of g-force deceleration. Possible G-force sources might be found in following article Artificial Gravity Without Spinning: Konecny Space Station  by Pavel Konecny

Intro to Volume Two

INTERSTELLAR INTERSTELLAR flights will take years; thanks to G-force. Thought Experiment's vessel would reach 60% light speed (.6c) after 323 days of g-force acceleration (distance is about .3 LY); thus, it would need another 323 days (another .3 LY) to slow down just prior to arrival at destination star. Thus, this much g-force (646 days) enables the vessel to cruise the interim distance between acceleration and slowdown at a constant velocity of .6c. For example, a trip to a nearby stellar system, Alpha Centauri, would only take about 8 years (as observed from Earth). INTERSTELLAR G-force consumes considerable fuel. If 0.1% of the vessel's mass can fuel one day of constant g-force acceleration; then, G-force flight for 646 days would require 46% (=100%×(1-.999646)) of ship's original gross weight (GW).  Since 646 days of g-force only covers a distance of .6 LY, common sense compels us to conclude that g-force propulsion over most interstellar distances (>4 LYs) would require much more then 100% of vessel's GW (more fuel then ship, not practical).  Thus, TE assumes that a vessel must g-force accelerate for about a year to gain feasible velocity (significant portion of c); and TE further assumes that vessel must cruise at this velocity for several years before deceleration and arrival. INTERSTELLAR travelers must maintain awareness. Constant comm stream with Mother Earth. It's very likely that one of the many "chores" for interstellar crews will be to deploy and recover comm pods, deployed to assure constant communications with home station at Earth as well as the many other interstellar vessels along same route. Not only is this desirable for many reasons, consider this overwhelming factor - if this ship encounters unexpected hazards (large debris such as ejected comets and asteroids, rogue planets, brown dwarfts, singularities, even comm modules from previous flights), the time that communications terminate will alert listeners to exercise caution during subsequent trips to that stellar destination. Three Sections: +++Thinking About It+++ +++Getting Ready+++ +++Getting There+++ Practical Interstellar Scenario G-force acceleration/deceleration plus a lengthy cruise make interstellar trips practical. There are many other concepts for interstellar travel; most are infeasible and/or inpractical.  For example, warp drives, worm holes and other theoretical mind exercises are not feasible.  "Sailships" and generational space trips are not practical.  However, a few concepts, such as the Bussard Ramjet might prove useful during the long cruise portion of an interstellar voyage. Regardless of g-force duration, light speed remainder stays the same. Recall Einstein: Regardless of relative velocity, all observers measure same value for c. At start of voyage, two obervers, Earth bound Alan Ein (Al) and ship board Bertrand Stein (Bert), are at relative rest, and they both measure light speed, c, as 299,792,458 meters per sec (m/s). After Bert g-force accelerates for one day, Al observes Bert's velocity to be .283% c; thus, the remaining velocity, 99.717%c still remains to be achieved.  However, Bert still measures c as precisely 299,792,458 m/s. On second day, Bert continues g-force acceleration, and he again plans to achieve .283% c; thus, remaining velocity will still be 99.717%c.  Again, both Al and Bert still measure c as precisely 299,792,458 m/sec. Everyday, Bert continues to calculate .00283c achieved with a constant remainder of .99717c.  Fortunately, Bert does not despair because he notices that home star, Sol, is receding at ever greater speeds; also, destination star is approaching at ever greater speeds. Thus, light speed remains constant, but g-force changes ship's relative velocity compared to departure star as well as destination star. Back on Earth, Al continues to measure a daily increase in Bert's velocity. Intuitively, one would think that a constant daily increase of .283% c would cause a g-force vessel to achieve light speed after 354 days (354 days × .283%c/day = 100.182%c). However, Einsteinian concepts clearly state that cannot happen. Thus, Thought Experiment (TE) assumes that following exponential equation is a better model of g-force velocities ("t" is time in days).  Einsteinian: vt = c [1- Rt]= c[1 - .99717t] TE assumes: After 354 days of g-force, Al measures Bert's velocity, v354 , as 63.331% c.

Intro to Volume One

INTERPLANETARY Spaceflights to neighboring planets will become practical and eventually routine (much like airline travel today) because future propulsion methods will reduce travel time from months and years to weeks and perhaps even day. Furthermore, spacecraft will maintain comfortable Earthlike conditions (gravity, atmosphere, comfortable billets, entertainment, etc) throughout the flight. Equivalence Principle. Consider Einstein's thought experiment about an accelerating elevator. If the elevator accelerates at same rate as free falling objects near Earth's surface, then occupants will feel equivalent g-force as if they're static on Earth's surface. Instead of Einstein's elevator, our Thought Experiment notionalizes a high performance spaceship to accelerate at rate, g, to produce gravity like force (g-force). However, our TE assumes that g-force propulsion can be achieved with slight enhancements to current technology. Three sections: ***Thinking About It*** ***Getting Ready*** ***Getting There*** Different Expressions for g (acceleration of freely falling object near Earth's surface). After one day of g-force acceleration, vessel would achieve a velocity of  864 km/sec which equals 0.5 AU/day or 0.3% of light speed, c. 10 m/sec2 = 864 km/sec/day = g  = .5 AU/day2 = 0.3% c/day "Galileo's famous demonstration at the Leaning Tower of Pisa showed that heavier objects fall at the same rate as lighter objects. In fact, he did numerous experiments in a more practical fashion, rolling balls down sloping troughes at different angles. He discovered that an object's freefall velocity increases with time, not with mass. In fact, numerous observations have determined that a freely falling object accelerates per the duration of the fall not the mass of the object." G-force to other planets is more practical then current method of transfer orbits. Transfer orbits between planets now take months and years. This might work for robots and other AI devices; it won't work so well for humans and other biologics. By contrast, g-force propulsion would reduce interplanetary flight time to days. On the other hand, g-force has its concerns. For example, g-force to Jupiter could increase ship's velocity to 2,700 km/sec at the midpoint. To decrease speed and still simulate gravity (thus, the term, "g-force"), spaceship reverses direction of fuel exhaust and decelerates at g for remaining days of travel. Momentum Exchange: Expel small mass of high velocity gas in one direction, and much larger mass (rocket) slowly increases speed in opposite direction. Mship × Vship = mfuel × vfuel Let large space vessel's speed increase by 10 m/s for every second of powered flight. Thus, let Vship be a constant 10 m/s; then, change it into a rate by dividing both sides of equation by a second. (Recall: g, acceleration due to gravity near Earth’s surface, is approximately 10 m/sec2). Thus, TE assumes spaceship can expel enough high speed particles to provide 1-g force throughout the flight. This propulsion will bring ship to high velocity and simulate Earth gravity for ship and contents. Mship × g = (mfuel × vfuel)/sec

*GETTING READY*

*******************GETTING READY*******************

Enabling Technologies

Contents6. Time to Upgrade7. Plasma Particles and Momentum8. Accelerators - Storage Rings9. Payloads from Earth10. Lunar Launch Platform

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We already have the pieces to the puzzle ...

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We just need to put them together.

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LIST OF TABLES Select from following:Table 1. Likely DestinationsTable 2: Typical TO DistancesTable 3: Typical TO VelocitiesTable 4. Transfer Orbital Periods.Table 5. Compare Travel TimesTable 6. Compare Travel VelocitiesTable 7. ⇑Pros and ⇓Cons of Two Space Travel ConceptsTable 8. Fuel to the PlanetsTable 9. More Fuel to the PlanetsTable 10. G-force Fuel & Return 6. Time to Upgrade Transfer Orbits vs. G-force Profiles Typical transfer takes a semi-orbit (SO); thus, total distance traveled would be one half the distance of the relevant ellipse. At orbital speeds, this takes a while. Most destinations take years. Destination Transfer Orbit (TO) G-force Profile SemiMajor Axis Typical LOS SO Dist Travel Times Travel Times aD d CT/2 TY Td tAcc tDec tTtl Uranus 19.18 AU 20 AU 34.58 AU 16.03 Yr 5,854 dy 6.32 dy 6.32 dy 12.65 dy Observed Assumed π√(aT2+bT2) √2 (1+aD)3/2 5.656 365.26TY √(2(d/2)) √g √d √g 2√d √g Line of Sight (LOS) is a straight line from Earth to destination, LOS distance is much less then SO distance. G-force acceleration would enable ships to approximate a straight line path at much greater speeds; this would greatly decrease travel time. Typical destinations would take days. It's time to upgrade from transfer orbits to g-force profiles.

7. Plasma Particles: G-force Fuel High speed particles make momentum happen. Mship= 30.57 *dc*ffsec Non-Relativistic Mship dc ffsec mT dec. c gm 3.057 .1 c 1.0 To Mars Mship= 30,570 *dc*ffExh Low Relativistic Mship dc ffExh mT dec. c kg 6,240 .2 c 1.021 To Ceres Mship= 30,570 *dc*mr*ffsec Mid Relativistic Mship dc mr mT dec. c 22,928 .6 c 1.25 To Uranus Ms=30,570√(mr2-1) ffsec High Relativistic Mship mr ffsec mT kg 52,949 2 1.0 Exoplanetary

7a. Close Look at the Particle Stream As fuel burns, gross weight decreases. As vessel weight decreases, burn rate also decreases. To consider ion quantity requirements, TE constructs following three tables. Table-1: Every Day Differs. Fuel consumption remains a consistent percentage of current GW; thus, GW is ever decreasing due to fuel burn. TE uses an exponential method {(1-Δt)t}to model daily fuel requirements. Table-2: Any day: 86,400 Unique Seconds TE arbitrarily chooses Day 20 as an example; Day 20's fuel requirement is 222.91 mTs of water. Simple division approximates an average burn rate of .00258 mT (= 2,580 grams) per second. Table-3: Pulse requirements During each second, PA will create and expend many plasma packets. Each will contain small quantity of water but a large number of particles. TE arbitrarily assumes a Packet Repetition Frequency (PRF) of 10,000 per second.

Particle Accelerator components: Select from following:1. Plasma Source - charged particles. 2. Injector - ions into wave guide.3. Wave Guide - particles travels in a tube.4. Klystrons - generate microwaves. 5. Superconducting Magnets6. Detectors - examines colliding particles.7. Vacuum System - clears wave guide.8. Cooling System - removes heat. 9. Storage Rings - stores particles.10. Extractor - ions into exhaust 8. Accelerators - Storage Rings Storage Rings keep momentum happening. Summary Component Accelerator Purpose Leverage Space Environ Plasma Source Provides charged particles for acceleration. Maybe water will work: Plenty of water in the oceans plenty of comets in space plenty of He3 in the giants Injector Puts ions into wave guide. Rate determined by ship's mass. Wave Guide vacuum tube provides path for particle beam. Design determined by size/shape of ship. Klystrons generate microwaves for the particles to ride. Text coming Magnets focus and steer the particle beam. Required for particle acceleration. Superconductors Save enormous energy Required for magnet practicality. Detectors examines radiation from particles colliding with each other and with walls of wave guide. Needed for efficiency as well as safety concerns. Not easy to repair wave guide, even harder during powered flight. Vacuum System keeps wave guide completely clear. Plenty of vacuum in deep space. Cooling System removes heat generated by equipment. Plenty of cold in space (4° K); can make liquid hydrogen from water supplies. Storage Rings store particle beams temporarily when not in use. Key design factor. Extractor Puts ions into exhaust ports. Rate determined by efficiency.

************CONTENTS************ Select from following: Space Elevators Carbon composite, nanotube ribbon" into space.Counterweight will keep the ribbon taut.Mechanical lifters will take payloads to space.Power for upward bound lifters will come from laser beams.Risk mitigation will take several forms.Operational Analysis helps determine true utility. 9. Payloads from Earth Materials from Earth start the process. One Thousands Lifts per Mission. Terran topsoil, oceanic water and many other Earth bound resources must elevate to orbit to support humanity's space borne mission. If a "lifter" can transport 10 mTs per lift, it will take 300 cycles to export sufficient water for one mission. If there is an equivalent requirement for Terran top soil, then another 300 cycles. Presume another 400+ cycles for other payload requirements then one g-force mission might take 1,000 lifts. With one strand of ribbon and one lifter; then, elevator capacity is 1 load per one 15 day cycle. At that rate, each g-force mission needs 15,000 days (about 41 years) to completely supply. With multiple strands and multiple lifters, capacity could conceivably increase to 1 load per day. This reduces supply time to 1,000 days or about 3 years. Conveyor Belt Configuration. TE assumes greatly increased ribbon durability and ribbon redundancy to enable elevator to adopt a conveyor belt configuration. If this enables 1 lifter per hour, then, supply time decreases to about 50 days which would be a reasonable duration to be included into a mission's Work Breakdown Schedule (WBS). Improvements could further reduce load time.

CONTENT Select from following: Lunar ResourcesLunar Launch Lunar Transformation 10. Lunar Launch Platform Moon makes final contribution. SUMMARY Filler for TE SpaceshipOne ton of helium-3 requires processing 14,000 tons of lunar regolith. This resource could be used to help build enormous infrastructure of g-force spacecraft. Home Berth G-force vehicle orbits around Luna when not traveling to/from interplanetary destinations. Orbiting g-force vehicle can leverage Lunar Transformations Energy source: He-3 Reactors. Terran Topsoil Terran Ocean Water