A deuterium gas-puff load imploded by a multi-MA current driver, from a large initial diameter could be a powerful source of fusion neutrons, a plasma neutron source. Unlike the beam-target neutrons produced in Z-pinch plasmas in the 1950s and deuterium-fiber experiments in the 1980s, the neutrons generated in deuterium gas-puffs, with current levels achieved in recent experiments on the SNL Z facility, could contain a substantial fraction of thermonuclear origin. ...
A slingatron is the name given to a propellantless mechanical means of launching a projectile. To date, slingatrons are only conceptual in nature, but their potential use as a ground-to-space launch mechanism for unmanned payloads is under investigation. Slingatrons can be configured in a variety of geometries; one form consists of a spiral track (or launch tube) that gyrates at a constant frequency about a set radius. Under proper conditions ...
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