Recent content by MikeBH

Hi Armin11, I like the plasma solution as I am a plasma physisist. But I am also a practical guy so I think you are right the airlock without any air is the best solution. You suggest a gel to replace the air. I think this should be a gel inside a flexible but impervious outer surface so like an...

Can you explain what type of flux you are talking about.

Hi Armin11, The principle is the same. However creating a high pressure air jet only gets the energy upto a limited value. The air velocity at the exit of a jet engine is 500m/s. The velocity of a 1000eV beam is 2.5e5 m/s. As the energy goes as the velocity squared each molecule in a beam...

astronaut goes through the plasma beam front and exits to side of beam sources. Also possible to have opening between two beam sources.

Ok the astronaut would put on his suit and and seal the airlock before the plasma is switched on. The plasma will create ozone and other radicals that would harm him if he inhaled them. The plasma is on while the door is open, only a short time so that the power needed is small. 1kW for a few...

I am a plasma physicist so I decided to look at the idea of using a plasma window or more accurately a beam driven ion wind to keep the air from leaving the airlock. Just like the Star Trek idea. The system would work like this. An ion beam would be formed at the door of the airlock and...

I am afraid the 30cc to 50cc idea only reduces the pressure from atmopsphere to about 400 milli-Torr. That is still high pressure not really an approximation to a vacuum. A vacuum pump needs to take it down at least 1:1000 to 1:100000. That means the plunger would be bigger than the ship.

Use a vacuum pump on the spacecraft to evacuate the air in the airlock back into the craft before opening the doors. Simple engineering solution.

Thought this thread might be interested in this - what happens to a body in a vacuum? That empty feeling, when everything sucks! http://wp.me/p2lfqY-11

The plasma does not generate a coherent magnetic field. It requires a current driven in the plasma to generate the magnetic field. It would require massive currents to produce fields you mention.

The plasma density for a fixed gap will generally depend on the current, so increasing the volatge and keeping the power constant will produce a lower plasma density.

There is a connention between ionisation potential and voltage. 24 electron volts is the energy gained by a electron in traveling through a potential difference of 24 Volts. So if you have a voltage gap of 24 volts and an electron travels through this gap then it will gain enough energy to...

It comes down to the definition of a plasma. Plasma behave in a collective way. Some people define a plasma as positive and negative particles but this is not enough. The collection of charged particles must react to shield a potential so that no electric field can be sustained in the plasma...

The concept of a plasma shield does not make sense if you are trying to shield a phyiscal missile. However, the Starship Enterprise will be attacked by high energy beams, of particles or photons (phasors). A plasma shield makes a lot of sense in this case. A magnetic field can be used as a...

I have never seen an application with colliding plasma. High density plasma are used in industry. These are used in fusion but also in ion sources. I have worked with a dual plasma where you form a hot dense plasma inside a magnetic field and allow it to diffuse across the magnetic field. In...