I wouldn't be concerned about this, personally, for the precise reason that it is a fusion device - not fission!

Fusion is incredibly difficult just to start, let alone keep burning - unlike fission, which is only too happy to enter runaway conditions if not very carefully regulated. Fusion is like a little ember in your fireplace you have to carefully blow on to keep alight; fission is like keeping a fireplace lit by pouring gasoline into it.

I'd say (older-generation) fission is more like having an indoor swimming pool filled with burning gasoline, but keeping the windows shut so there's only enough air for it to burn at the rate you want to heat the house.

Or a swimming pool full of those spicy rocket propellents discussed in the book Ignition! which have combustion products like hydrogen fluoride.

Neither of the hypergolics described in Command and Control seem chill either: the fuel reacts with atmospheric water and oxygen, the oxidizer is in the highest category of poison (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.co.za/extracts/command-and-co...).

Indeed there's no such thing as a free launch, and that is rocket science.

"Things I will not work with" - "at this point hydrogen fluoride loses its gentle nature".

Would love to take a look at your library.

Not the poster above, but as someone who also has a copy of Ignition! in their library, I think you might enjoy the pdf version:

https://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pd...

Quite intentionally, too. One of their parties is looking jealously at the cashflow that a US-style system might provide them. At the cost of everyone else, sure, but what's that to the allure of profit?

I mean, they are being systematically under-funded by one of the UK parties such that it will fail, so they can then point at it saying "I told you so", and so then get to adopt a US-like system, so they too can get in on that sweet, sweet cashflow :/

Haha, yep. At least they're honest about screwing you.

Depends if you're using it with ORMs or not. It's equally as useful with data in memory. Definitely slower for some things though (yes, it's always slower in one sense... But its also easier to make parallel, so it can even out in the end)

Still, I now prefer doing such things in Rust.

Yes, it does. Also a C# programmer. I really like Rust. About as easy to use to transform, filter, group etc, but considerably faster.

Oh, it is, it just makes them a lot easier to use. The compiler does method restructuring magic behind the scenes to build the necessary state machines. Everything gets a lot easier to understand.

Yup. Even carbon composites don't really work out (minimal payload) until the rocket is very large (see: ITS)

Running a vacuum-optimised engine in atmosphere means the exhaust is overexpanded, which causes severe flow seperation and chaotic flow. Even small amounts of overexpansion are harmful to the nozzle; overexpansion to vacuum-type ratios is likely to cause an Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly.

It just got covered in soot from the ablative protection (okay, probably some Al2O3 too, from the subsequently burning grid fin) on the grid fins burning off. GTO/GEO missions come in _really_ hot!