On 7/25/2022 3:02 PM, Richard Aiken - raikenclw at gmail.com (via tml list) wrote:
> Hey All,
>
> IMTU, maneuver drives are either Orion drives (the basic model for those old
> asteroid colony vessels which settled Known Space,ban advanced
> fusion-boosted/inertially-damped model for modern in-system freightliners) or
> fusion torch rockets (for most remaining ships).
>
> For the fusion torch rockets, I have been intending to use water as the standard
> propellant, with "refined" being distilled water and "unrefined" being tap water
> (or worse). But I am curious if so-called "heavy water" - created in pursuit of
> the nuclear bomb (although I'm not sure why) - might make a better "refined"
> fuel. In particular, it would justify why "refined" is so much more costly than
> "unrefined."
>
> Thoughts?
>

	In the real world so-called heavy water is simply normal water with one or both
of the hydrogen atoms replaced with deuterium, the heavy hydrogen.

	If you're thinking that feeding extra deuterium into the fusion reaction to
give it a little extra kick, it may be an interesting idea. But I would think
the general system would want to separate out the deuterium for direct use as
fuel, and plain water as a reaction mass.

--
         Thomas Jones-Low
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