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Ironically enough quiet_NaN doesn't actually do that, he just gives general exposition about the difficulties of spaceflight. Misleading, in my view, since energy density is vital, that's the fundamental essence of the entirety of rocketry. Nuclear fusion based rocketry would not just 'help a bit' but provide enormously greater capabilities.
We all agree that nuclear rockets are far more effective. Trying to plug in numbers to the equation is useless at this phase because we don't know how heavy a fusion rocket will be, nor what kind of exhaust velocity can be achieved. We don't have any such rockets. But we do know that chemical rockets are extremely slow and inefficient. They're unsuitable for serious space colonization (as are human bodies in my view).
Stepping back and taking a very broad view, there are several steps to the research, development, and engineering of a system. Generally, one begins with physical principles. With those physical principles, one can compute theoretical limits. One can also sketch a concept of operation based on those physical principles. Often times, at that point, one can still handwave away many practical concerns and compute how close a concept could, in theory, get to the raw theoretical limits. As one progresses, one may include an increasing number of more real-world difficulties.
For nuclear rocketry, we are not building on a blank slate, as though no one has ever started down this path at all, as though we simply have no idea what the theoretical limits are or what the concept-based performance could look like (still handwaving away many practical considerations). People have been doing this work and publishing it for half a century.
Do you agree or disagree with this general picture?
I'm not agreeing or disagreeing, it's just not relevant.
I am saying these things:
Quiet_Nan was saying
Neither point matters in relation to my argument. I think we all know that fusion rocketry is difficult.
You are asking in response:
But that also doesn't really matter to my point. As long as it's significantly better than chemical rocketry, which it is, then that makes it a better option for long-range spaceflight, since it can do the work and chemical rockets can't.
I don't understand your somewhat patronizing approach of asking about concept-based performance. I don't need to cite a specific fusion design to know that fusion designs can provide much more capable rocketry. That's inherent given the nature of fusion vs chemical rocketry. We already know this. There is plenty of variance between designs and some may just not end up being workable.
Trying to explain specific impulse, thrust vs delta v to me is wholly irrelevant to the substance of what I'm saying!
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