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PLASMA TOKAMAK ROCKETS

Jim Alcalali  last night on TV stated that plasma rockets were possibly the next step in exploring space which involved firing charged particles through a magnetic tunnel.  The idea looks promising but the positively charged magnoflux pushed out must somehow be balanced by a return current of electrons which might cause damage to the sides of the venturi rocket exhaust;  or would it?? and how can we overcome it?
  • I didn't see this last night (forgot it was on so will need to try to get it on catch-up) but I have seen this proposed in the past. I think the idea is that the charge is balanced by a separate (or possible multiple separate) electron beams also fired, but as these are much less significant in terms of thrust compared to the plasma and also easier to engineer they tend to be ignored in the descriptions. I hope someone else can amplify on this.

    Alasdair