Over the weekend I was reading some sites associated with our British
Interplanetary Societys Project Dedalus. It seems to be for the
moment the only practical proposition to get a payload to another
system in a realistic time frame.

Anyhow, on some of the sites concerning the engine, was a discription
to have around the rocket nozzel bell end an O ring of like a cathode,
so the probe can recycle some current/electrocity via the plasma
exhaust plume.

Can they do that, and do you get much electricity via it? It sounds
like a good idea and it could be used on a VASIMR type rocket to get
some payback from the amount of electricity the ship would use to
generate a plasma exhaust.


Christopher
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"Kites rise highest against
the wind - not with it."
Winston Churchill