From: chernyshevsky@hotmail.com   
      
   Magnetic confinment? Then again, the energy density of a plasma is probably   
   pretty low.   
      
   Uzytkownik "Henry Spencer"  napisal w wiadomosci   
   news:HsoDHt.6Bs@spsystems.net...   
   > In article ,   
   > aSkeptic  wrote:   
   > >Would preheating the H2, to break it down to H, before it enters the   
   > >combustion chamber improve a chemical rocket's "gas milage"/exhast   
   > >velocity?   
   >   
   > If you could do that... yes, very considerably.  You could forget the   
   > oxidizer, and just let the H recombine to H2 -- an *IMMENSELY* energetic   
   > reaction, which would not only make most other chemical rockets obsolete,   
   > but would eliminate all interest in solid-core nuclear-thermal rockets.   
   > Nothing short of gas-core nuclear could compete.   
   >   
   > Trouble is, all that energy has to *come* from somewhere.  As you might   
   > guess from the above, you need extremely high temperatures to break down   
   > H2 to H.  This isn't some little add-on to the propulsion system; it   
   > *becomes* the propulsion system.   
   >   
   > Practical interest in such approaches centers on finding a way to   
   > stabilize H, so you can invest all that energy on the ground, and release   
   > it in flight without having to carry the powerplant along.  Unfortunately,   
   > nobody has yet found any workable stabilizing technique.   
   > --   
   > MOST launched 30 June; science observations running     |   Henry Spencer   
   > since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending.        |   
   henry@spsystems.net   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)