Just ignore that last post.... wrong thread.
Just ignore that last post.... wrong thread.
A VASIMR engine would be better anyway since we can throttle the engine by adjusting the flow on the fuel pumps. That way we don't spend months in cryogenic suspension waiting to get anywere.
I concur, Dr. Now how do we construct the fuel pumps or what program should be the drive for regulating the fuel ratio into the pumps? *Tries to sound smart* Haha. Sorry for being quite guys! Busy weekened!~ Awesome posts though. ^^ I'll have to gather up my wits and see who's left in the posting order here. ^.-
<Snipped quote by lydyn>
LET'S TALK SCIENCE (because I accidently brought it up and it's cool stuff)
Actually, by adjusting the flow I don't mean that there will be any more or less gas being pushed through the system. The propellant is actually injected into the engine at the same rate regardless of the amount of thrust produced by the engine. That doesn't make much sense right? Obviously the more fuel you pump into an engine that faster it goes! In this case that's not true.
MOAR SCIENCE!!!
VASIMR stands for VAriable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket! It is comprised of several different components. First and foremost is the fuel injection system which, just like it sounds, injects fuel into the system. The fuel injection system is connected to a quartz tube which carries the fuel (Hydrogen or Helium) through the engine until it passes though a coil called a Helicon Antenna which strips the Hydrogen/Helium atoms of electrons so they become ionized atoms.
At this point the ionized gas has left the quartz tube and is contained by an electromagnetic field produced by several superconducting magnetic coils that form a cylindrical barrier for the ionized gas to pass through. That's the 'Magneto' part of Magnetoplasma but there still isn't any plasma!
Plasma exists as super heated gas and is most notably found in fusion reactions (like inside of a star). In order for the ionized gas to become plasma it has to become SUPER heated. To do that you need the last component of the VASIMR engine. The ICRH Antenna, which I honestly don't even fully understand how it works, heats the ionized gas into plasma at many millions of degrees Kelvin.
As we all know, a gas will always try to expand to fill it's container and the same is true for plasma, so as the newly formed plasma tries it's best to expand it starts to put itself under enormous pressure. Remember the Magnetic field that keeps all the gas and plasma in one place? It has an opening at the rear of the engine. That means that all the force of the super heated plasma will escape through that opening and burst out of the engine propelling the spacecraft forward.
The amount of thrust generated through this method is almost entirely dependant on the temperature at which the plasma is heated. Hotter plasma has more energy and more energy equals more thrust. Conversely, cooler plasma has less energy and therfore less thrust. So the way that a VASIMR engine varies it's throttle is by adjusting the intensity of the ICRH Antenna which heats the plasma.
Soo. . . . This is all Greek to me jajaja
<Snipped quote by Pyromania99>
Really???? I thought I did a good job of simplifying it all.
I thought I was the only one, the site's screwing up for me rn
Hm
@TheWizardLizard has been offline for 8 days, something might have come up.
<Snipped quote by Inertia>
Well, we still have a couple days... if he's still gone by then, we may just push on without him and give him a chance to catch up.