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LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw48a1@nu.federati.net)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Dec-2023 18:36:52 JST LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}

I wish I could find the book 📕 I read around 1974 where someone proposed a “doughnut” spacecraft in which a high powered magnetic field would compress hydrogen gas enough to cause fusion reactions and thus propel the ship at some fraction of the speed of light. It relied on interstellar hydrogen gas in order to work.

I think their drawings depicted something like a gigantic ramjet engine, with crew quarters and ship control areas embedded inside the walls of the engine.

Almost fifty years later, I would like to see whether the idea could still be viable.

In conversation Wednesday, 06-Dec-2023 18:36:52 JST from nu.federati.net permalink
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  GeniusMusing (geniusmusing@nu.federati.net)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Dec-2023 21:53:50 JST GeniusMusing
  in reply to
  
  @lnxw48a1
  Could this be the author?
  It sounds very much like his work.
  
  Larry Niven Wikipedia
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Niven
  In conversation Wednesday, 06-Dec-2023 21:53:50 JST permalink
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    Larry Niven
    
    Laurence van Cott Niven (; born April 30, 1938) is an American science fiction writer. His 1970 novel Ringworld won the Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. With Jerry Pournelle he wrote The Mote in God's Eye (1974) and Lucifer's Hammer (1977). The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America gave him the 2015 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award.His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics. It also often includes elements of detective fiction and adventure stories. His fantasy includes the series The Magic Goes Away, works of rational fantasy dealing with magic as a non-renewable resource. Biography Niven was born in Los Angeles. He is a great-grandson of Edward L. Doheny, an oil tycoon who drilled the first successful well in the Los Angeles City Oil Field in 1892, and also was subsequently implicated in the Teapot Dome scandal. Niven briefly attended the California Institute of Technology and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics (with a minor in psychology) from Washburn University...
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  GeniusMusing (geniusmusing@nu.federati.net)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Dec-2023 22:32:02 JST GeniusMusing
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  @lnxw48a1
  I think this is the ramjet you are describing.
  
  Bussard ramjet Wikipedia
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bussard_ramjet
  
  If you want to see the math, check this site out.
  
  Nearlight Starships Atomic Rockets
  https://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/slowerlight3.php
  In conversation Wednesday, 06-Dec-2023 22:32:02 JST permalink
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    Bussard ramjet
    
    The Bussard ramjet is a theoretical method of spacecraft propulsion for interstellar travel. A fast moving spacecraft scoops up hydrogen from the interstellar medium using an enormous funnel-shaped magnetic field (ranging from kilometers to many thousands of kilometers in diameter); the hydrogen is compressed until thermonuclear fusion occurs, which provides thrust to counter the drag created by the funnel and energy to power the magnetic field. The Bussard ramjet can thus be seen as a ramjet variant of a fusion rocket.The Bussard ramjet was proposed in 1960 by the physicist Robert W. Bussard.The concept was popularized by Poul Anderson in his novel Tau Zero, Larry Niven in his Known Space series of books, Vernor Vinge in his Zones of Thought series, and Carl Sagan, as referenced in the television series and book Cosmos. Feasibility Since the time of Bussard's original proposal, it has been discovered that the region surrounding the Solar System has a much lower density of hydrogen than was believed at that time (see Local Interstellar Cloud). In 1969, John...
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    Nearlight Starships - Atomic Rockets
  LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} likes this.
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  LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw48a1@nu.federati.net)'s status on Thursday, 07-Dec-2023 05:32:53 JST LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
  in reply to
  - GeniusMusing
  @geniusmusing That looks like it is what I remember.
  
  In conversation Thursday, 07-Dec-2023 05:32:53 JST permalink
  
  GeniusMusing likes this.

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