Customer Reviews

Fusion Energy Space Propulsion (AIAA Education Series)

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This book is a well written introduction on how fusion technology might be applied to space propulsion. The first few chapters give the basics of fusion engines. The descriptions of magnetic confinement and intertial confinement fusion are some of the best I have seen. The material is technical enough for those who have studied fusion for years, and parts that are too technical can be skimmed without loss of understanding in later chapters. These later chapters describe fusion initiated by antiprotons and catalyzed by the muons that are produced by matter-antimatter annihilation. This seems to be a very efficient way to use very small amounts of antimatter. The technical details of the fusion rocket engines were very well researched, and were quite detailed. The only problem I found in the book was in the list of fusion fuels in table 2 of chapter 1, where there are several typographic errors (there is, of course, no beryllium-3 isotope). There is also an error in the data for the lithium-7/proton reaction, giving beryllium-7/neutron products as 80%. This reaction rate would require a temperature of nearly 20 billion degrees Kelvin, whereas it would not occur at ignition temperatures (~1 billion degrees Kelvin). Overall, the book is very well done, and the speculation in the book is backed by good research and theory. The possibilities that are envisioned by this book for the future of fusion in space propulsion are great.