Reply To: Fusion Oil
The Focus Fusion Society › Forums › Dense Plasma Focus (DPF) Science and Applications › DPF for the Icarus Interstellar Spaceship project › Reply To: Fusion Oil
vansigI’d so-much like it to be true, but those laws of thermodynamics do get in the way, sometimes.
Even with next-generation technologies, we could probably only reduce the radiator’s mass to 22g per m². It would be a magic black cloth, having .999 emissivity, strong, flexible, lightweight, and double sided, and having a vascular structure, inflated with refrigerant. but it doesn’t radiate better than a perfect black body. So there must be 1 km² of it.
Laser cooling is a nice idea, but unless the lasers are separate from the ship, (strewn like breadcrumbs along the path), they add to the overall heat more than they take away.