Fusion spaceships are the primary means of space transport since the twenty-first century. The latest fourth-plus generation model is capable of a top velocity of two-tenths the speed of light.
For long voyages most fusion ships have a rotating life-support wheel usually located a third of the way from the front of the vessel. The wheel section of a fusion ship provides the artificial gravity which makes the performance of most mundane everyday chores, such as eating, sleeping and cleaning, much easier to accomplish. It also provides for the health and muscle-tone of the crew although medical research has made that benefit redundant with new discoveries.
The wheel section of most fusion ships consists of the crew quarters or apartments on the second floor. This floor also includes a cafeteria, workout room, theater, and assembly area. The first floor, the outer part of the wheel, is used as an aeroponic's garden (a method of growing plants in which the roots are exposed and misted with water and nutrients) to grow food on long voyages. The third floor is usually where supplies and equipment are kept. Each level typically has over fifty-thousand square feet of floor space.
At seven hundred feet in diameter and rotating at one point-eight revolutions a minute the artificial gravity created is about four-tenths Earth gravity. The outer surface of the big wheel is moving at over seventy kilometers per hour.
Crew quarters are four hundred square feet each and seem even roomier than their square footage would suggest. Three rooms included a ten by twenty living room-kitchen, a ten by twelve bedroom and an eight by ten bathroom. The kitchen includes a small fridge and food processing center.
At three thousand feet in length the fusion ships are some of the largest spaceships in existence. The spine of the ship is made of interlinked girders of a carbon composite that is strong but flexible. The composite is wrapped in a particle shield, inside of which is an x-ray shield. This design prevents most fast-moving interstellar particles from impacting the frame and weakening it over time. Closer to the fusion engines it also prevents any radiation damage. At the front is another massive particle shield to deflect particles when the ship is at speed. A magnetic field generator complements the particle shield by turning away charged particles.
The fourth-plus generation ship's engines use the deuterium helium-3 fusion reaction. The advantage of this reaction is the large amount of energy it produces with an absence of neutrons. The lack of neutrons allows a much longer engine life due to the reduced materials damage and activation levels (radioactivity) when compared to other fusion reactions. In the fourth generation-plus engine the loss of efficiency to neutron and x-ray emissions is almost nil.
Even though the fusion engines are aneutronic they still can give off some radiation, mostly in the form of various fast-moving particles or gamma rays. These collide with the reactor shielding leaving only soft x-rays. But even with this lesser radiation a crew member would not want to remain in their vicinity too long.
The tanks containing the deuterium oxide pellets are located at the back of the ship just in front of the engines on the left. The tanks containing helium-3 gas are similarly located on the right.
During the four-tenths Earth gravity acceleration and deceleration phases of a journey the wheel section would not be spinning, and the living quarters would be turned, like beads on a string, so that the applied force was in the proper direction.
Isotopic energy storage is used on these ships . . .
Source:
Sci-pedia - The Online Resource for Science - Fusion Ships
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