AntaresMC

No fusion confinement will work with spin pol Requires a lotta stability, so Zpinch out. Requires time so IC out. Requires really precise mag fields so MC out. As MC and IC are out, MIC and MTC are also out. Thats why its considered unobtanium by many. It's its own type of confinement that uses the same magnetic field to align the spins to prevent it from going out. Also is a slow type of fusion so it isnt very hot and waste a lot of energy in housekeeping and confinement (the mag fields are hundreds, easily thousands of teslas).

The thing is that spin pol "tames" neutrons, eo you can use them for thrust.

80% of its energy becomes well directed that dont wanna spread out as this pussy CP tamed neutrons! The other 15%CP do whatever you want, they are no longer the star and the rest, a few Xvoltaics, gamma transparency and violà, the most efficient fusion engine youll get, at the cost of only can have one (mag interference would break spin polarizing) and have so little thrust you're gonna wanna DIE, but hey! Youve got 18%c EV! THATS LIKE 6Ms! Ok, mabe you should measure its thrust in hummingbirds but, you can do what Squad did with the ion drive and 1/2 Isp but multiply thrust by 1000

Dont discount, only say He3 can be breed, you have plenty of time in an interstellar journey and there isnt life support (I play with USI :C). D and B are cheap but in KSPIE money aint a problem (cough, UF4) and by that time you should have He3. Ive never said D-He3, this reaction is bad, but there are 2 similar reactions, He3cat D-D (cheap, around 10%N, similar to D-D energywise) and He3+He3-D, that is as clean as H-B an a gazillion times better in all but cheap. Only truly aneutronics are CNO (slow, unobtanium), tri He (high lawson, low power) and H-H (unobtanium, too slow for usable thrust, and yes, I wanna overhaul Unobtusstard). And He3-He3, horribly wasteful and moneymoneymoney but good as a fusion... The one I propose for OPdalus is He3+D-He3, not cause radiators or heat (mag nozzle dont care, they dont give a fVck), but cause Isp, the He3-He3-D is the most energetic when we discount Lawson, N and Gammas. Still waiting for spin pol D-T engine, it doesnt make sense to be a reactor mode, its useless for power!

Nope, because the cap is well above the heat cap Ive talked earlier, and the proof is that require constant heating. In a capped MCF, the heat of CP clashing is enough to maintain at least the easy boy of D-T, (that I used in the 1st post as example) without more than a bit of supervision, and Li is shiny, probably enough for itself... This would add a size cap at where increasing fuel flow is impossible and start needing lH2, Im not gonna calculate, Im lazy, but I think a priori its above the 40m cap of TweaksScale... Would require a bit of twisting to maintain pressures but you have to heat it anyway, havent you? This makes it pulsed but so many times per sec that doesnt matter

I believe OPdalus is best with He3-D+He3 and He3 breeding (what lotta He3s lol) surrounded by Li6D. Differnt fusion modes wont help because at that stage you are suposed to have He3 and other things make N, or heat (yes, D-T), or are sh1t (looking at you H-B) or them all (cough, D-D) or straight up bad-and-wasteful (this He3-He3 of today...) or unobtanium (eh? H-H, dD and spin pol) or useless for thrust (have you heard me, tri He and the cold ones?) The only thing I can think of actually beficial is aH cat (with or without fission) and Nium(not even in the mod) and if they are added, Ill start calling it Brokedalus...

I know, Im just saying that they aint needed because adding more fusion fuel has the same effect but also makes more CP for the generator, they are cooler CP so the overall perfomance of the plasma nozzle/MHD is the same, but CP converter operates more efficiently when a lot slow, as slow means less resistance and less mag field twists and weird things... Only scenario I see afterburning is if youve got lH2, little fuel and dont need megajoules, but kinda situational... Its more like VASIMR than like VISTA, you dont vary the prop flow, vary the fuel flow

Ah , OK, Ill post some bluelrints anyway if someday you feel like changing it or I learn CGI models...

FORGET ABOUT AFTERBURNING! Its useless as increasing the fuel flow does the same but increases power prpduction as well. Ok, mabe if you are low on fuel and you dont need that much power, but where is that kerbal overengineering and moar powah philosophies?

Will it be a complete overhaul or just make it self sustaining? If 1st, Ive redone the old Daedalus from HSP to tansform it into an interstellar candle candle (torchlike thrust power, optimized for Isp), I did at the start of lockdown as I wanted it to be the main long range, big payloads (its mothership has a mini O'neil cylinder...) drive, capable of brachistochrones anywhere in a system and 6-10 year interstellar travel (its ambiented in a cluster, so stars are like 1 LY appart, its an around 16%c average) for a K1.2-1.3ish civ. First, I got rid of the particle beams, better cryo UV lasers and the pellet canyon, better a railgun, next, changed the nozzle to an open dome-shaped mag nozzle, around 45° (like 1/2 dome in height) with a ring behind with all lasers. The inner border of the nozzles end is the mirrors. I use solid He3+D-He3 in Li6D coverd pellets (the He3 is in liqid bubles)(if Im gonnna use a material, I use one that gives extra energy). The shadow shield is cooled by Li6, to breed He3. The nozzle makes a steep S curve to make room for an MHD to recharge capacitors, then a VISTA nozzle (how do I love it). All the nozzle is covered in carbon nanotube reinforced graphite, with thee C tubes filled with solid H2 that vaporizes long before the graphite, allowing for OC cooling. This is made because in my setting H is dirt cheap, even given for free sometimes due to starlifting and automation, but in KSPIE graphite would do the same... Also this makes it more resistant to weapons fire, but again, for KSPIE is useless He4 propellant is inyected as is a byproduct of He3 breeding and have to get rid of anyway, free dV. Also He4 is dirtcheap too by the same reason. LmH2 prop (regular H2 would be OK, but denser and energy is real cheap in the setting) can be added as well to add thrust, its used basicly to evade fights and planet captures. Ive made some sketchs, Ill find em (or make a new one) and send it

AR gives very litle info about that but even it makes sense, 1st, the Isp can be improved by reducing fuel mass flow, no need for afterburner. This depends on the size of the engine, as its directly limited by its thermal inertia; so if we get that Disc2 is around 10m diameter, which is like 9 times the area, so if same mass flow, you can take around 3 times the heat, BUT thrust is around 1/5, so heat can be rised a bit less than 2.5 times (lets say 3 because better materials, and rounding) so 9 times the heat is 3 times the Isp, 12000×3=36000 (the bit less is for housekeeping). The good thing of the Disc. is that you have a defined thrust power and unlike most engines, the more gas you give, the more thrust less Isp without need of afterburning (Ok, mabe unburnt fertiles as Li6 or H, and you save weight in a closed loop). AND LOOK AT THE HELL OF RADIATORS ARE THERE! The more radiators and the more size the more thrust power, so this engine works better bigger, twice as big, and twice the radiators, twce the fuel, same acceleration, twice the payload/dV (not both, but still, linear, take that rocket ecuation, your tyranny is over! (Aw, sh1t, still gets exponentially bigger, just not in fuel. NOOOO! YOU WIN AGAAINN! WHYYYYY?!)). Also most direct fusion drives have pitty thrust at 10-20e3 Isp because as have low thrust they are designed for small probes. WRONGG! You have to take advantage to the sqr cube law (actually, line square?) Ok, anyway, go big or go home. Edit: the more Isp you get, the less power you get since its a quadratic relationship so there is a max thrust at where plasma is too cold and a max Isp where start needing power to run, killing the purpose. Again, the solution is scale up! (Or mabe put rads but thats boring)

The plasma is internally confined. Ill assume D-T as its surprisingly convenient, and Ill talk about Hcat D-D+D and He3cat D-D+D Lets assume its transparent to neutrons and gammas, and 50% to Xrays. Well get around 15% fusion output, of which around 2/3 is CP, the other 1/3 is WasteHeat. The molten Li6 is pretty shiny until farUVso thermal rad has to try not to get to there, or the CP energy starts counting to WasteHeat. This limits Isp to around 3000ish assuming an accelerator nozzle with very little WasteHeat footprint. If you get all the way to the X spectrum, you get 1/2 (walls transparency) your thrust power and becomes harder to maintain plasma. Assuming OC cryocooling (including the Li6 and H fertiles) we can get up to 5000 (eith accel nozzle) easy and mabe 6000. To 10000s well need a healthy amount of radiators, but still plausible thermal generation. 12000, so petty TWR of radiators if decide to generate thermal power that better ion drive, radiators if not thermal generation, healthy, but possible. 15000, really need some kinda plasma window rads (a concept Ill suggest when finish it, but basicly the rad equivalent of GCNTRs) or pulse the engine (few secs fusion, cooldown, few secs...) that would let a lot of unburnt fuel. If pulsed so slowly thrust dont matter, mabe 20000s? But would have a pitty TWR, better a VASIMR... In D-D fusions (no matter the cats, miau xD) you'd have not as much Li6 (or not at all in Hcat), cutting down Xray absorptivity down to around 1/4, but have 3x the CP (this is wasteheatly bad for an internal burn engine, thats why I said internal detonation is stupid in the NSWR) so 1.5× heat and bernstahlug, further limiting temp, so Isp, so kinda cancels out (a bit more Isp, but a bit more rads, less OC cooling, a bit less thrust, but not very different). In He3 cat still got Li6 layer, and have even more limited temp, but still even more bits of the above. I believe the extra bits of Isp balance out with the bad bits, and are so insignificant to compensate extra lawson criterion. Afterburning would kill all pourpuses and better a lighter engine, but its always good, even if I transform a 12000s 100kN in a 4000s 1000kN and a lotta H2 wasted Id still find uses (situational)... And thats the story of why I hate internal burn egines! YEEY! And remember, kids, internal burn engines suck, you have to pay your heat bill even for CP! Edit: actually, you could improve the Isp not sure how much by reducing the amount of fuel and heating it more, but less power, less thrust and more plasma heating problems, and its pitty tnrust cant afford to be reduced a lot... Moreless if you 1/2 thrust, could afford multiply Isp by sqr2, with 4 times plama heating problems if use same power for it, and with lower energy budget (what I think defeats its main pro). Also note Disc.'s thrust power is quite low, so the amount of cool propellant you can mix is really limited, 1st nozzlewise (doesnt look superdupper powerful) and 2nd its not worth it shooting more than your thrust power. If you cant heat more than, lets say 10 times your mass flow, shoot 11 and that last will be exactly as if you shooted by a cold gas thruster. I dont know the Psp of KSPIE's engine nor Im hard-working enough to do the math now (Im still 1/2 asleep xP), but HSP (human space program, you know, that cool aerospace sim) one had very little room for shifting gears, more like afterburns for emergency or going outta LEO in a sane time than actual gears (mainly because it was designed with a the-alt-is-ion-drives perspective and thrust didnt matter)...

Zubrin's design wasnt very well defined nor flawless and its main problem/limitation was heat, that I focused on solving. And in its original paper, that you cited me earlier, said "high thrust at 10000 Isp". Using UF4 and tweaking salt content/enrichment you can improve Isp exponentially. Also using D2O improves Isp. Also Ive done the math and heat aint a problem in my model, ablator time is. So bring moar graphite and an engineer! You can easily double heat by enriching to less than 30% (U233 cheap), get to 12000s (assuming 8000s start, railgun/mag nozzle adds) and cut ablator time by around 1/3. And graphite lasts very long (until almost 4000K) mabe around 1/2 an hour alone, more the more radiators.

Xrays cant be fully reflected by non degenerate matter, and partially reflected by multi layered 2D metamats, but inneficiently (about 1-1/layers as a rule of thumb). Gammavoltaics have the same problem, just worse (I assume the MuonCat has a CP or MHD integrated and gammas scape, its more realistic). Neutronium like materials or quark matter is the only thing COULD (not sure/proven) do it.

Because mixing cold propellant REDICES YOUR Isp. When CP get thermalized is that the products dont scape and make heat. Cant see better than 15000 because is a low tech level engine and the product is He. 10000s is optimistic, 12000 is assuming, 15000 is in the edge of unobtanium. Its a direct fusión drive, and afterburning kills the purpose...

100% reflective mirrors for Xrays are impossible for non-degenerate matter, since they can pass between electron orbitals. Not that heavy Gamma mirrors are impossible, theyre the size of a nucleon, so only neutronium-like materials or magic deflects them. Dont helps, Nium gives a lot of WH Things like a quark gluon plasma (that add more heat than remove) and CP ultradense clouds are able to deflect'em, and that last will use magic or a beam core reactor the size of the engine at least. Also Kerbstein is not all that hi tech, just brute force and themal management. Only add power comsuption and a need for stock ablator (better something like graphite or RotatedGraphene), and change the fuel. Heat and tech wise, I cant see a GCNTR better than 7000s, but thrust can be improved. Heatwise, I cant see a DISCOVERY better than 15000d (12000 requires good assumptions). With that 3-5 thousand Isp difference and the CP I can see a reason to use DISCOVERY over GCNTR in many situations.

I think Kerbstein need a balance (not a nerf but, a quasi-nerf) its WasteHeat footprint is laughable. DO YOU KNOW THE Sp POWER THAT BEAST HAS!? Theres not enough mass ratio for OC cooling at more than 7000s (mabe 10000 with a bit unobtanium) no matter what you do, so the power it generates+what it uses is its wasteHeat footprint. For 1/2Ms 15MN, so its 3.75TW of WasteHeat. Having a VISTA nozzle is difficult to get above 50%eff, so double! Assuming NOTHING of the fusion's heat goes to the engine (we'll come back later) and that D-Li6 gives a perfectly round 3 orders of magnitude more power that it get (its a bit less) and 100% efficiency of the lasers (spoiler, cryo cooled ones get about 1/2) ITS 7GW! And if count laser inneficiencies, sround 14. If you assume perfect perfectlyness, 3.75GW, still a lot. In a 1.878pi^2 area, so a bit more than 12m^2, thats more than 3GW/m^2 And we havent started with the fusion heat. Lets assume 1/2 eff, a bit more than 20m VISTA (50% eff is a lot, for that kinda nozzle, but lets round) nozzle so that is finely and roundly 1/500 of the heat comes as heat/m^2 so, we have 37.5 GW of WasteHeat. Around a 5th is bernsthahlung Xrays, well assume thermal is reflected (its black, but Im lazy) and I couldn find the n output of the D-Li6 (because D-D and T breeding so D-T as well), Ill assume 10-15% for simplicity and between gammas, nozzle+generator WasteHeat lets say it gets to a bit more than 40%. So we've got around 10 times as before, so un total of 12.5GW/m^2, so around 150GW. And you have to have enough radiators to run the generator at around run the 50% eff (get 1/400, need a little more than 1/1000+ mabe another 1/100 for the hungry cryo cooling of lasers and few thousand tesla nozzle, right next to a 4000K wall). So your radiators have to be below 2000K... And we havent talked about the plasma that goes through the nozzle and closes, getting this thing at around a meter is no joke... Can add a few GW/m^2 Needing external power and generating 4000K thermalPower will help, also cleaner (yet worse and expensive as hell) He3+D-He3 or even worse but cleaner He3-He3 will also help. Putting a sh1tload of ablator makes it not just thermally survivable but improves thrust, and mabe it can be pushed with laser/positron ablation if run out of fuel. Another thing, is so important looking like the Expanse's Epstein? If not, I suggest change it a bit. Ive came up with one that looks super-dupper cool and alien, not finished, but simple poligons-wise and more realistic...

Where did you think the ExoticMatter came from?

yea, I know, for that I cant help, other than the science/design and mabe an amteur 3D model, and would take a lot of time... But I can think of a way: 1st: reuse the texture of the Unobtusstard engine (actually pretty close to what I have in mind) for the burn chamber. 2nd, you can reuse the texture of the mag. nozzle texture. Flatten it a bit into a dome shape, duplicate, cut the 1st curved half and wide open it. paint it black. I dunno to do that but Im sure its easier than make from 0. 3rd, add a few citlinders as tubes. the railgun you can say its hidden and make a few triangles as the strut fins, no need for textures, its all graphite, so all black. For the plume you can reuse Kerbstein's plume, scale it up in the wide axis and youre fine. But COVID is giving me infinite time and Im working in a sci-fi setting anyway so helping KSPIE is the least I can do for that hundeds of hours of fun! If someone needs scientific advice/designs Im free and research anyway!

Got it, thanks! 10-15m nozzle diameter. 5m attachmet point (plus bigger shadow shield). Scalable down to 3.75, mabe 2.5, both with upgrades. Some kind of structural fins in the shade of the mag nozzle's coils are needed in order to withstand the pressure. KSP2 mH like ones to the shadow shield would do the trick. Some kind of deployable 3D print will be needed in order to replace the ablator, and an engineer for gameplay/balance reasons. TAKE THAT skeptics that say its too kerbal (aka impossible). IT CAN BE DONE! You only have to ban LO and suborbital usage in anywhere but thd sun. For the weapons grade version (WiP) outridht ban usage in planet SoI This is made by hand in an attempt of making it fast to make an idea, and its not to scale, Im gonna do a detailed one, but cant make the actual model for KSPIE anyway so Ill need someone. This design (not the sketch) is the result of many hours of making Zubrin's 100% not unreasonably kerbal idea possible (and "sane"/doable) and made for KSPIE. Reccomend seeing earlier quotes for context. In order: To @FreeThinker the weapons grade version Im dedicating some hours a day and have done most the work. Will have a sketch soon and a bluelrint for the model as early as possible since its the most kerbal thing Ive made evah and Im excited . Disclamer: orion style turbopumps confirmed , its the only way to not break the engine I figured out. Not allowed to steal the idea or claim that there's something more kerbal XD gotta present this idea to the most kerbal one (world record) when ended the drive.

Why would yo add B? ITS A NUKE POISON! And also, remember its like 30000K, no matter whats in there it will be white hot, and in the borders where its cooler, we can start seeing a bulueish cherenkov mixed with the color of whatever there is. The old model was equally unrealistic, but better looking. It seems like a cold gas thruster without nozzle... And that dusty effect on the exaust is unsaveable. The heat problem as well. Also, the img is a photo from the sketch isnt in the internet. Any clues?

What is LiteFuels? DarkGoo? HyperPlutonium? What is the meaning of that technobable? Seriously, Im curious

AH, EUREKA! A FOND DA WAE! What about it? D2O+U233(100%)F4(10-20%) with around 20-30% dissolved He3. You have antiprotons. Shoot it at say, 100m (around 1000-5000T VISTA nozzle). Shoot it with an aH beam as a jumpstart. Start a fission-fusion-fission explosion that keeps until stops getting fuel. Most energy is from D-D, a big portion from U233, a bit from D-He3, He3-N, and D-T. The D-D gives neutrons. The He3 keeps them moving around (Li7 also does, better, but unsoluble in water) by transmutating in some He and some H+T, fuses with D yo create moar neutrons! Thats perfect way to confine neutrons (more correctly reuse some) while allowing much higher Isps with the H and the fusion heat! Ok, Im gonna figure out and try yo find info, design an engine and KERBSTEIN, WE HAVE COMPETENCE! (Actually with AM catalizing kerbstein can go up to 1-1.5Ms, but...) Talking on Kerbstein, did you know D-Li6 isnt aneutronic but nasty neutron rich? Think about it, a D-D side reaction generates a T or a n, the n goes to a D or a Li6 and becomes T, so u have that almost all D-D gives T, and if fuses with D and generates loads on N that give more T untill a good chunk has been D-D and other good chunk D-T, so, bit of neutrons, yea... I suggest using He3+D-H3 (aka the suggested EnrichedFusionPellets) with tuned temperature or straight up wasteful/inneficient He3-He3, only 100% aneutronic (excluding H-H and CNO) I know. Still dont know how to post the img Edit: just thinking on that is giving me the most kerbal ideas in the entire universe! My sanity is diminishing, Ive thinked in TWO, PULSED, OPEN CYCLE, THERMONUCLEAR PREBURNERS! the worst thing is that I dont see it a bad idea :S do I go all the way down the rabbit hole?

Ive made a sketch by hand, explained, but how do I post an Img? XD Ok, so Ill breafly explain what I didnt put there. The fuel pump is a multi-tens-Km/s railgun (metal seeded fuel), this+the 1st 1/2 of the nozzle (whose main function is a giant MHD to cancel out lateral speeds and take electricity, also accelerates the fuel even more before the detonation takes over to the actual nozzle) A good chunk of the heat is turned into electricity by a turbopump+generator. But this and the MHD nozzle are just enough to power the railgun IF PULSED (but fast, isnt orion) and capacitators (needed to start anyway), so effectively halving or less the thrust and cutting a bit of isp. Fortunetly, the engine still got loads of heat, so if enough radiators, you can run it constantly with a thermal generator. Also 7000 Isp is really poor, the theoretical max of the open GCNTR is exactly its Isp (but no one seems way to get to 7000 ) but you get the most conservative approaches for the NSW? c'mon! At least 10000s and 12000 aint too far away... And talking of that, the open GCNTR (we need a better name) is quite making useless Discovery, same Isp, more TWR, not that much less power, even with radiators better TWR and money doesnt matter ((cough, UF4, cough) oh, mabe ive caught covid xD). Same tech tiers, much less situational, and u dont move small probes with a 5×10m engine! I prefer takig down Isp to 7000 but buff thrust a 25% so they are different engines for different roles (also, why fusion's SCREAMINGLY radioactive exaust is allowed fut fission's not? ) The nozzle I propose would not survive the weapons grade version, have to be completely different Edit: also, for the thin nozzle to survive whe pressure, in the shade of the coils that go in the thrust axis, there have to be some structure, I think of some trialngles going from the tip to the shadow shield like the fins in the mH engines from KSP2. Know which am I talking about?

NO, have you seen my proposal? A GIANT post in page 3. And obviously the easier fuels come earlier the plan was start with Kero/HTP, later have Metha/LOx, and las H2 since its the most awfully inconvenient, and you wont need it early as you wont do ISRU nor need high Isp, not very realistic, but RO is gor something, and realism is somethig of all or little, mid points are just useless inconvenience. Also I correct myself as I had and idea for kero ISRU. (kerbals give waste even if life support disabled) Waste+water+ore=HeavyHidrocarbons. If added Carbon Oxides gives twice and LOx And discovered that HTP is denser than lOx, so why not? Edit (misunderstood you): the idea is not to add difficulty but deph, you have effectively more engines if you can have more fuels, that lead to more to choose. 1st KeroHTP, as regular LFO, to other combinations better but more complex (CH4, H2 O2 and combinations)