Defense Intelligence Reference Document Advanced Nuclear Propulsion For Manned Deep Space Missions

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enough to entrap the charged DD fusion products within the target. Only then is the
condition for a propagating thermonuclear burn fulfilled.
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V Input
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C s C
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Figure 7. Ordinary Marx Generator. In an "ordinary" Marx generator n capacitors C charged up to the voltage v,
and are over spark gaps switched into series, adding up their voltages to the voltage V = nv.
HV loput ::
Figure 8. Super Marx Generator. In a Super Marx
generator, N Marx generators charge up N fast
capacitors FC to the voltage V, which switched into
series add up their voltages to the voltage NV.
21
Fast Capacitors as
Coaxial Transmission Lines
Fusion Target Chamber j
~-
Marx Banks in Oil Tanks
Figure 9. Artist's Conception of a 1.5-km-Long
Super Marx Generator. Composed of 100 x 15-meter-
long high-voltage capacitors, each designed as a
magnetically insulated coaxial transmission line. The
coaxial capacitors/ transmission lines are placed inside a
high-vacuum vessel. Each capacitor/transmission line is
charged up by two conventional Marx generators
symmetrically to 10 MV (± 5 MV). After charge-up is
completed, the Marx generators are electrically
decoupled from the capacitors/transmission lines. The
individual capacitors/transmission lines are
subsequently connected in series via spark gap switches
(that is, the "Super Marx" generator), producing a
potential of 1 GV.
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