3 metersZ Pinch fusion rocket

[leucome]

3 meters Z Pinch fusion rocket with 2000 of Thrust and a quite low fuel consumption.

It also include the tank with the same design.

There are 2 new engines with larger reactor 5 meters and 10 meters, it was a test to see how it look. Also now they have a normal map too. The 10 meters one can not have a full size collision mesh because it get stuck in the lunch tower lol.

Now with the glow for the engine heat.

While searching for new technology for rocket I found the Sabre rocket that can breath air up to mach 5 so I added this feature to the 5 meters thermal reactor I also use a toroidal aerospike nozzle. This one have an Isp = 2850

vacIsp = 1500 the vac isp is similar to some of the best thermal rocket value for and for sea level it is close to the expected one of Sabre rocket.

Download: http://news.leucome.ca/files/leucome_Parts_v3.zip

Deprecated... Download: http://news.leucome.ca/files/Leucome_zpinch.zip

5 meters with Air intake and aerospike.

5 meters

10 Meters

Edited October 19, 2012 by leucome

[Lifeforce87]

Sweet, looks great!

[CERVERUS]

Awesome,thank you my friend!

[MaverickSawyer]

o.O Whoa. Is that a magnetic nozzle, or a decoupler?

Also, does it have an insanely low ISP under atmospheric conditions?

[leucome]

o.O Whoa. Is that a magnetic nozzle, or a decoupler?

Also, does it have an insanely low ISP under atmospheric conditions?

It's a magnetic nozzle and it also could be used to recover a part the lost of energy like gamma ray.

It use the default ISP (no parameter). I don't know which parameter could make sense. So i thought it's a system that heat a lot of gas than one made for deep space travelling ad so a low IPS. I will make all the other stages and balance the parameters after.

I need to find some information on how to make the motor turning red when hot and how to add a normal map . ect..

[aryeon]

looks beautiful man

[Rn1001]

Are you basing this on NASA's Z-Pinch engine concept? http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20120002875_2012002392.pdf

If so, since that includes estimates for dry mass, wet mass, and the delta-v it's supposed to be capable of, I think one should be able to calculate its specific impulse. Running the numbers in the NASA link through the strout.net delta-v calculator seems to indicate a specific impulse of about 6650 seconds. Not sure how you'd go about calculating atmospheric isp or what the thrust should be though.

[nhnifong]

That's a cool looking engine! But could a fusion reactor really fit in there? I think a fusion reactor, to be fair, should be about 5 meters wide, about weigh about 50 tons. You can't just have energy for free. Oh yeah, and it's shaped like a donut

[TheShadow1138]

Are you basing this on NASA's Z-Pinch engine concept? http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20120002875_2012002392.pdf

If so, since that includes estimates for dry mass, wet mass, and the delta-v it's supposed to be capable of, I think one should be able to calculate its specific impulse. Running the numbers in the NASA link through the strout.net delta-v calculator seems to indicate a specific impulse of about 6650 seconds. Not sure how you'd go about calculating atmospheric isp or what the thrust should be though.

I checked the article you linked and thought I'd try calculating the thrust and specific impulse in the atmosphere.

The article states that the vacuum specific impulse (I_sp) of 19,436 sec, and in the paragraph above Figure 8. it states that the mass of plasma in each pulse is 0.02 kg, with ten pulses per second I assumed a mass flow rate of 0.2 kg/s. Using these values a vacuum thrust can be calculated at approximately 38,133.4 N using the equation, Thrust = I_sp*mass_flow_rate*9.81m/s^2. With this thrust value we can calculate the thrust at sea level with the equation, Thrust_sea_level = Thrust_vac - Atm Pressure_sea_level*nozzle exit area. The article later states that the exit diameter of the nozzle is 14 m giving an exit area of 153.9 m^2. Using this equation we get a sea level thrust of -15.5 MN effectively zero thrust at sea level. Just for completeness, this gives a sea level I_sp of -7.9 Msec. These negative numbers are really meaningless, as the thrust provided would be effectively zero, so would the I_sp at sea level.

I won't claim that these numbers are exact, but it might at least give an idea of the performance of the engine at sea level, an area that it was never intended to provide useful thrust.

[TheShadow1138]

That's a cool looking engine! But could a fusion reactor really fit in there? I think a fusion reactor, to be fair, should be about 5 meters wide, about weigh about 50 tons. You can't just have energy for free. Oh yeah, and it's shaped like a donut

I don't think you're really fitting a fusion reactor into the engine, but that the engine is a fusion reactor. The Z-Pinch design allows massive amounts of current to be run through the plasma creating a strong magnetic field that confines the plasma and compresses it into the conditions necessary for deuterium-tritium fusion to occur, this would be the "pinch". The engine is a combination of magnetic confinement and inertial confinement fusion. Inertial confinement fusion doesn't require a doughnut shaped container, but most terrestrial magnetic confinement fusion reactors are doughnut shaped, though it's not necessary for fusion to occur. And, I believe it would still be quite heavy with all the shielding for the spacecraft.

[leucome]

I know. we do not make fusion reactor that small but maybe one day who know. Even if the inside is donut shaped we actually see what contain the reactor so it look like a cylinder. and the box around is the electric system. I thought that it was too small so i made a second set around the tank.

Edited October 16, 2012 by leucome

[leucome]

I checked the article you linked and thought I'd try calculating the thrust and specific impulse in the atmosphere.

The article states that the vacuum specific impulse (I_sp) of 19,436 sec, and in the paragraph above Figure 8. it states that the mass of plasma in each pulse is 0.02 kg, with ten pulses per second I assumed a mass flow rate of 0.2 kg/s. Using these values a vacuum thrust can be calculated at approximately 38,133.4 N using the equation, Thrust = I_sp*mass_flow_rate*9.81m/s^2. With this thrust value we can calculate the thrust at sea level with the equation, Thrust_sea_level = Thrust_vac - Atm Pressure_sea_level*nozzle exit area. The article later states that the exit diameter of the nozzle is 14 m giving an exit area of 153.9 m^2. Using this equation we get a sea level thrust of -15.5 MN effectively zero thrust at sea level. Just for completeness, this gives a sea level I_sp of -7.9 Msec. These negative numbers are really meaningless, as the thrust provided would be effectively zero, so would the I_sp at sea level.

I won't claim that these numbers are exact, but it might at least give an idea of the performance of the engine at sea level, an area that it was never intended to provide useful thrust.

I was thinking more something like a thermal system that use a fusion reactor instead of a fission . By injecting and heating an other mater it's possible to lower the impulse but I do not find any study of this concept pushed enough to work at see level anyway nobody want nuclear rocket at see level, lol.

[leucome]

I added new file to download with glowing heat and a normal map.

[joedude69]

I would like to see the pictures but they don't work

[czokletmuss]

Is this abandonware? Anyone?

[Canopus]

I hope its going to be updated.

[czokletmuss]

It better be or "Proteus" isn't going anywhere

EDIT: Okay, the engine is working but it has some problem with the nodes; some idea how to change this?

Edited May 26, 2013 by czokletmuss

[shadowsutekh]

Last comment by the addon creator is on the spaceport download from April 9th 2013.

[czokletmuss]

Okay so is it permittable to "recycle" abandoned mods? Or is it illegal?

[Awaras]

It better be or "Proteus" isn't going anywhere

EDIT: Okay, the engine is working but it has some problem with the nodes; some idea how to change this?

You need to edit the part.cfg file.

Basically, find the line that reads something like this:

node_stack_top = 0.0, 2.32, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 2

node_stack_bottom = 0.0, -2.32, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 2

Then increase the second numbers (2.32 and -2.32 in this example.). The larger the numbers, the further away from the center of mass the nodes get. Just experiment with the numbers untill you line up the nodes with the edges of the part.

Okay so is it permittable to "recycle" abandoned mods? Or is it illegal?

Nobody is going to forbid you to change stuff for your personal use. Redistributing that stuff to other people without the author's explicit permission is a whole other can of worms... :/

Edited May 26, 2013 by Awaras

[czokletmuss]

Okay, thank you for info, I'll try to change this.

[czokletmuss]

I used this:

// --- asset parameters ---
mesh = model.mu
rescaleFactor = 1.25
scale = 1

And everything seems to be okay. Can anyone check this?

[Gaius]

I used this:

// --- asset parameters ---
mesh = model.mu
rescaleFactor = 1.25
scale = 1

And everything seems to be okay. Can anyone check this?

Yes, simply adding "scale = 1" to old mods that had their node alignments messed up fixes them. No need to change any of the node numbers.

[fenderzilla]

could you possibly add a bigger fuel tank, one which actually is the same size of the engine?

[stupid_chris]

I'm pretty sure this mod is long dead unfortunately folks. Since OP hasn't posted since late October 2012, I'm gonna close this thread now. If he wants it reopened to work on this again, he can message me to see it done.