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Space Cadet Michael's avatar

Thank you for this interesting study. The potential of this technology is incredible. Somewhat related to your proposed mission, NASA developed a fission powered craft to Jupiter in the early 2000s. They completed Phase A and developed perhaps the most mature concept for such a system. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_Icy_Moons_Orbiter

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Brian Scott Pauls's avatar

Oh, cool! I didn't know about that. I'll read the article you linked. :)

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Space Cadet Michael's avatar

Another very interesting resource i just came across is Robert Zubrin's The Case for Nukes. It is mostly about fission but makes a very interesting case for it.

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Brian Scott Pauls's avatar

Adjusted spacing for byline and first paragraph

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Brian Scott Pauls's avatar

Added byline

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Brian Scott Pauls's avatar

Made the words "initiated the reaction" a link in the following sentence:

"To be clear, the lasers which initiated the reaction delivered 2.05 megajoules (MJ) of energy to the target."

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Brian Scott Pauls's avatar

Added the following:

"To be clear, the lasers which initiated the reaction delivered 2.05 megajoules (MJ) of energy to the target. The reaction then produced 3.15 MJ of energy—a net gain. The lasers, however, “draw about 300 MJ” of energy to deliver the 2.05 MJ required to start the process. We’ve still got a long way to go before we get to a practical fusion generator.

Nevertheless,..."

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Inserted sharing and comment buttons.

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