The Fusion economy

[Jappards]

Our kerbal scientists have finally developed nuclear fusion technology. Demands for Helium-3 and deuterium have driven the prices sky high.

Fusion reactors and engines

Fusion reactors will be able to provide lots of power, fusion engines have a large amount of Isp, but Fusion engines won't work inside an atmosphere and the engines aswell as the reactors need to be kickstarted with power. They also require Helium-3 and Deuterium in a 1:1 ratio. The tanks used to store the fuel of the fusion engine are not able to be filled in the VAB or the SPH, but can be filled from another vehicle(docking).

Mining

Helium-3 can only be gotten from some planets, while Deuterium can be gotten from every planet. The ISRU converter is able to convert ores into Deuterium(liquid fuel is hydrogen and Deuterium is an isotope of Hydrogen). Helium-3 and Deuterium can be gotten from the atmosphere of a planet. Lists of planets with Deuterium and planets with helium-3:

Deuterium:

Jool

Eve

Duna

Kerbin

Laythe

Helium-3:

Jool

Eve

To be able to mine Helium-3 and Deuterium from an atmosphere, you need air intakes and atmosphere tanks. These tanks store air gotten from a planet, air only gotten from 1 planet can be stored. Then the ISRU refinery is able to refine the air in it's new atmosphere mode(where it uses up air instead of ores) and store the Helium-3 and Deuterium in their special tanks.

Recovery

The recovery of Helium-3 gives a huge amount of money if you have a contract, otherwise you get half of the value of a contract.

Edited May 8, 2015 by Jappards

[mattinoz]

Would the 10x density of the kerbol system make fusion easier or harder than Earth?

it makes the ground more explosive so I'm guessing it would make fusion easier as well.

[thereaverofdarkness]

I think you're talking about the LV-N, and it's powered by liquid fuel for convenience. Would be cool if we needed to mine special fuel just to use LV-Ns though.

[cicatrix]

If we look over a few unimportant differences, you've just basically described the KSP Interstellar mod.

[Jappards]

I think you're talking about the LV-N, and it's powered by liquid fuel for convenience. Would be cool if we needed to mine special fuel just to use LV-Ns though.

No, the LV-N uses liquid fuel and is powered by nuclear fission, there is a difference. Nuclear fission is the splitting of an atom, this is usually done with uranium and gives some nasty radioactive byproducts. Nuclear fusion is making 2 atoms merge, I am talking about the fusion of Deuterium(an isotope of hydrogen,which has more neutrons that usuall) and Helium-3 (An isotope of helium, which has 1 neutron less than usuall). This nuclear fusion "creates" 1 proton, normal helium(the helium you put in party balloons and in airships to make them float) and gives off energy.

If we look over a few unimportant differences, you've just basically described the KSP Interstellar mod.

Apart from Antimatter, Alcubierre drives, microwave wireless power transmission, Megajoules, Aluminium hybrid fuel rockets, Waste heat, Ammonia, plasma engines, Methane-oxygen engines, solar sails, do I need to go on?

[cicatrix]

Ok, it wasn't a full description. Still, ksp interstellar is more thoroughly thought through than the description.

[Kerbart]

The ISRU converter is able to convert ores into Deuterium(liquid fuel is hydrogen and Deuterium is an isotope of Hydrogen).

Little green men with bulging eyes, I'm willing to accept that.

A planet 10 times as dense as earth, I'm willing to accept that.

Converting hydrogen into deuterium? Really? Where'd you get the neutrons from? Fusing a proton and electron into a neutron? If the ISRU can do that why bother mining Helium 3?

[Kuu Lightwing]

BTW, scooping the atmo of a gas giant for fuel while flying at orbital speeds is not a good idea. You'll probably lose more energy than you can get from that fuel.

[cicatrix]

Deuterium nuclei are present in water but in such tiny quantities that any practical use of them is hardly possible.

[Jappards]

BTW, scooping the atmo of a gas giant for fuel while flying at orbital speeds is not a good idea. You'll probably lose more energy than you can get from that fuel.

How about Eve? Eve has not as dense of an atmosphere and lower maximum temperatures. Jool is a gas giant.

[Hunting.Targ]

Would the 10x density of the kerbol system make fusion easier or harder than Earth?

it makes the ground more explosive so I'm guessing it would make fusion easier as well.

The atmosphere has nothing to do with the reactor; a fusion reaction chamber is a sealed, evacuated environment that has a very specific composition before and during operation. It's plasma physics, not rocket chemistry.

If you're talking about matter density; I don't think everything in the Kerbol system is denser that elsewhere/when; just the planetary cores. Maybe two neutron stars got into a spiral dance and one came apart through tidal forces, scattering stellar fragments through a nebula that formed a planetary system with superdense centers. IDK. But that shouldn't have anything to do with fusion either; physics is physics, unless you find a doorway to another universe (or 'brane', as they're now saying).

Little green men with bulging eyes, I'm willing to accept that.

A planet 10 times as dense as earth, I'm willing to accept that.

Converting hydrogen into deuterium? Really? Where'd you get the neutrons from? Fusing a proton and electron into a neutron? If the ISRU can do that why bother mining Helium 3?

It's a process called neutron capture; it's one way that Canada produces heavy water for their naval propulsion reactors. A hydrogen nucleus can 'capture' a neutron (under the right conditions, of course) and become deterium. All you need is a source of neutron flux of the appropriate density and energy distribution. It's nuclear chemistry.