Plasma containment done in TOKAMAKS are pretty good but they have their own plasma instabilities and turbulence. That's why commercial fusion reactors are not ready yet. Regarding this gun, the issue is generally in putting a huge power and then the erosion. I think many countries will try to overcome this by shortening the length of the gun to reduce the Mach no and the erosion. Then why not use traditional hypersonics to kill the destroyer itself. How about creating underwater shockwave with nukes to destabilize the fleet and so on. China has tonnes of monies 🤣 , it is just testing everything. China has dug itself pretty well into Plasma thrusters and fusion reactors. Let's see where it leads to. I also think this rail gun can be used for clearing mountains and rough terrain.
The goals are a bit different though. The problem with plasma containment in fusion reactors is that plasma moves in unpredictable ways, and the amount of energy you need for a reliable containment field is higher than the energy output of the reactor. For this sort of application you'd be using the field for a containment of a metal slug and it just means eating more power. Regarding the power issue, it's worth noting that it would likely use supercapacitors. So you don't necessarily need a powerplant that can output 25 MW directly. You'd just charge up the capacitors for a few shots.
And yeah, it looks like China's taking a very broad approach to tech development. This sort of system could potentially be used for launching small satellites as well.
I wonder if you could use a magnetic containment field or something similar ways plasma is controlled in a fusion reactor.
Plasma containment done in TOKAMAKS are pretty good but they have their own plasma instabilities and turbulence. That's why commercial fusion reactors are not ready yet. Regarding this gun, the issue is generally in putting a huge power and then the erosion. I think many countries will try to overcome this by shortening the length of the gun to reduce the Mach no and the erosion. Then why not use traditional hypersonics to kill the destroyer itself. How about creating underwater shockwave with nukes to destabilize the fleet and so on. China has tonnes of monies 🤣 , it is just testing everything. China has dug itself pretty well into Plasma thrusters and fusion reactors. Let's see where it leads to. I also think this rail gun can be used for clearing mountains and rough terrain.
The goals are a bit different though. The problem with plasma containment in fusion reactors is that plasma moves in unpredictable ways, and the amount of energy you need for a reliable containment field is higher than the energy output of the reactor. For this sort of application you'd be using the field for a containment of a metal slug and it just means eating more power. Regarding the power issue, it's worth noting that it would likely use supercapacitors. So you don't necessarily need a powerplant that can output 25 MW directly. You'd just charge up the capacitors for a few shots.
And yeah, it looks like China's taking a very broad approach to tech development. This sort of system could potentially be used for launching small satellites as well.