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

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Contents
Preface ....................................................................................................................v
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1
Deuterium, Argon Ion Lasers, and KeV Superexplosives ........................................ 1
Magnetic Insulation and Inductive Charging .......................................................... 3
Magnetic Insulation ........................................................................................... 3
Inductive Charging ............................................................................................. 4
Deuterium as the Preferred Nuclear Rocket Fuel .................................................... 5
Magnetic Entrapment of the Charged Fusion Products and the Stopping of the
Proton Beam in Dense Deuterium .......................................................................... 6
Solution in Between Two Extremes ...................................................................... 10
The Nonfission Ignition of Small Deuterium Nuclear Explosives .......................... 13
Delivery of a Gev Proton Beam Onto the Deuterium Fusion Explosive .................. 15
Lifting of Large Payloads Into Earth Orbit ............................................................ 16
Neutron Entrapment in an Autocatalytic Thermonuclear Detonation Wave - a
Means to Increase the Specific Impulse and to Solve the Large Radiator Problem18
Testing the Deuterium Microdetonation Concept .................................................. 20
Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 25
Appendix: Conjectured Metastable Superexplosives Formed Under High Pressure
for Thermonuclear Ignition .................................................................................. 26
Bombardment of a Solid Target With an Intense Relativistic Electron or Ion
Beam ................................................................................................................ 28
Hypervelocity Impact ....................................................................................... 28
Bombardment of a Solid Target With Beams or By Hypervelocity Impact,
Followed By a Convergent Shock Wave ............................................................ 28
References ........................................................................................................... 30
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